Mindfulness skills, Psychological Flexibility, and

Accepted Manuscript Mindfulness skills, Psychological Flexibility, and Psychological Symptoms Among Physically Less Active and Active Adults Anu Kangasniemi, Raimo Lappalainen, Anna Kankaanpää, Tuija Tammelin PII:

S1755-2966(14)00036-2

DOI:

10.1016/j.mhpa.2014.06.005

Reference:

MHPA 146

To appear in:

Mental Health and Physical Activity

Received Date: 20 August 2013 Revised Date:

13 May 2014

Accepted Date: 17 June 2014

Please cite this article as: Kangasniemi, A., Lappalainen, R., Kankaanpää, A., Tammelin, T., Mindfulness skills, Psychological Flexibility, and Psychological Symptoms Among Physically Less Active and Active Adults, Mental Health and Physical Activity (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.mhpa.2014.06.005. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Less Active and Active Adults

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Mindfulness skills, Psychological Flexibility, and Psychological Symptoms Among Physically

LIKES - Research Centre for Sport and Health Sciences, Jyväskylä, Finland, Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

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Kangasniemi, Anu1,2*; Lappalainen, Raimo2; Kankaanpää, Anna1; & Tammelin, Tuija1

Author note

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This research was supported by Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Correspondence to this article should be addressed to Anu Kangasniemi, Viitaniementie 15 a,

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40720 Jyväskylä, Finland, Telephone: +358407623111 and +358406847006. Email: [email protected]

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Abstract

Mindfulness skills, psychological flexibility and psychological symptoms were compared

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among 58 physically less active and 50 physically active adults who were recruited and classified based on their self-reported physical activity. Additionally, this study evaluated the association of objectively measured physical activity with psychological variables.

Methods: Participants completed questionnaires evaluating their mindfulness skills and

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psychological flexibility as well as their psychological and depressive symptoms. Physical

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activity was assessed objectively using an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Results: Based on the self-reported physical activity levels physically active individuals had better mindfulness skills and less psychological and depressive symptoms compared to physically less active adults. A consistent correlation was observed between objectively measured physical activity and psychological well-being.

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Conclusions: This study support the view that physically active adults had better psychological well-being compared to physically less active adults. These results also suggest

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that a physically active lifestyle is related to better mindfulness skills and having less

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psychological and depressive symptoms.

Keywords: well-being, physical activity, mindfulness, adults, psychological flexibility, objective measures

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Running head: MINDFULNESS, FLEXIBILITY, AND SYMPTOMS

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Mindfulness Skills, Psychological Flexibility and Psychological Symptoms Among

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Physically Less Active and Active Adults

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Date for Resubmission: 06.05.2014

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MINDFULNESS, FLEXIBILITY, AND SYMPTOMS ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Abstract Mindfulness skills, psychological flexibility and psychological symptoms were

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compared among 58 physically less active and 50 physically active adults who were recruited and classified based on their self-reported physical activity. Additionally, this study evaluated the association of objectively measured physical activity with psychological variables.

Participants completed questionnaires evaluating their mindfulness skills and psychological

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flexibility as well as their psychological and depressive symptoms. Physical activity was

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assessed objectively using an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Based on the selfreported physical activity levels physically active individuals had better mindfulness skills and less psychological and depressive symptoms compared to physically less active adults. A consistent correlation was observed between objectively measured physical activity and psychological well-being. This study support the view that physically active adults had better

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psychological well-being compared to physically less active adults. These results also suggest that a physically active lifestyle is related to better mindfulness skills and having less

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psychological and depressive symptoms.

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Keywords: well-being, physical activity, mindfulness, adults, psychological flexibility, objective measures

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Living a sedentary lifestyle has become a widespread health problem in Western countries, and is one of the causes of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Lee, Shiroma, Lobelo, Puska, & Blair, 2012). Physical activity has

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also been inversely associated with mental disorders such as depression (Galper, Trivedi, Barlow, Dunn, & Kampert, 2006; Dunn, Trivedi, & O'Neal, 2001; Lucas et al., 2011), and this association seems to be bi-directional. It has been found that individuals who exercise at

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least two to three times a week experience significantly less anger, cynical distrust and stress compared to those who exercise less or not at all (Hassmén, Koivula, & Uutela, 2000).

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Furthermore, a higher sense of coherence and a stronger feeling of social integration has been reported in regard to individuals who exercise at least twice a week in comparison to their less active counterparts (Hassmén et al., 2000). On the other hand, lack of psychological well-being, such as in the form of depression, may also contribute to a sedentary lifestyle and

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poor adherence to physical activity behaviour (Roshanaei-Moghaddam, Katon, & Russo, 2009).

Mindfulness is a concept that has attracted researcher and practitioner attention

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worldwide during the last decade (Baer, 2003; Brown & Ryan, 2003) and has become as an

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important issue in health promotion and disease prevention research (Greeson, 2009). Mindfulness involves attending to relevant aspects of experience in a non-judgemental manner. In mindfulness training, the goal is to maintain awareness moment by moment, disengaging oneself from beliefs, thoughts, and emotions (Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Ludwig & Kabat-Zinn, 2008). A number of studies have evaluated the associations between mindfulness and different health behaviours. Mindfulness skills have been associated with better well-being (Baer, 2003; Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010), healthier eating practices, and better

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quality of sleep and physical health (Murphy, Mermelstein, Edwards, & Gidycz, 2012). In addition, mindfulness skills have also been recognised as an important element involved in disengaging individuals from their automatic thoughts, habits, and unhealthy behaviour

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patterns (Baer, Fischer, & Huss, 2005). Furthermore, several studies have shown that greater levels of mindfulness are associated with higher levels of physical activity (Ulmer, Stetson, & Salmon, 2010; Gilbert & Waltz, 2010; Roberts & Danoff-Burg, 2010). Mindfulness has also

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been found to moderate the intention–behaviour relationship in the physical activity context in that intentions have predicted leisure-time physical activity in mindful individuals but not

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among less mindful ones (Chatzisarantis & Hagger, 2007).

Psychological flexibility is another concept that has been recognised as a very important part of purposeful behaviour, dynamically representing well-being and satisfaction in life (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010). Psychological flexibility refers to the ability to be in

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the present moment with full awareness and openness to experiences based on one’s own values in life (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006; Harris, 2009). This concept is used especially in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which has been defined as a

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third wave therapy, having evolved from traditional behaviour therapy and basic behavioural

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principles (Hayes et.al., 2006). Research evidence has shown that ACT interventions help people to live a more flexible and meaningful life according to their own values, and have been a powerful aid in overcoming many kinds of mental or health-related problems (Powers, Zum Vörde Sive Vörding, & Emmelkamp, 2009). Besides the evidence from ACT research, little is known about how psychological flexibility is associated with physically active or inactive lifestyles. The purpose of this study was to compare mindfulness skills, psychological flexibility and psychological symptoms among physically less active and active adults who were

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recruited and classified based on their self-reported physical activity. Additionally, we evaluated the association of objectively measured physical activity with mindfulness skills, psychological flexibility and psychological symptoms. Based on the available research

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evidence (e.g., Ulmer, Stetson, & Salmon, 2010; Gilbert & Waltz, 2010; Roberts & DanoffBurg, 2010), we hypothesized that physically active adults have better mindfulness skills,

to physically less active adults.

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Methods

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greater psychological flexibility, and less psychological and depressive symptoms compared

Study population

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The study population (N = 108) was comprised of Finnish adults, who were recruited in the Central Finland region in the autumn of 2011. In order to reach two samples who differ by their physical activity levels, the groups were recruited separately. One sample was aimed

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to look for participants who do not accomplish moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level of 2.5 hours per week and defined as a “physically less active group”. The

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other sample was targeted to look for participants who meet the currently recommended minimum moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level of 2.5 hours per week and defined as a “physically active group”. Physically less active adults were recruited through advertisements in local newspapers and physically active adults were recruited through three local fitness centers using advertisements. Background information was collected using a questionnaire. The mean age of participants (N = 108) was 43 years (standard deviation, SD = 5.2), and 79 % were women.

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There was no significant difference between the physically less active and the active group in terms of age, gender, education, number of children, body height, or diagnosed mental health problems (Table 1). Participants’ physical activity levels were also measured objectively.

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Based on the objective physical activity measurements, the two groups differed significantly in their mean levels of objectively measured physical activity (p < .001) (Table 1). The

physically active group had, on average, engaged in 38 minutes more moderate-to-vigorous

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physical activity (MVPA), in 32 minutes more health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA), and took 5,128 more steps per day compared to the physically less active group. The

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individuals in the physically less active group also had significantly greater body weight (p < .001) and had been diagnosed with more physical health problems (p = .009) compared to the active group.

As an incentive to participate in the study, participants were given the opportunity to

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attend a body composition analysis and to receive a short personal interpretation and feedback session regarding the results at the LIKES - Research Center for Sport and Health

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Sciences. The participants gave their written informed consent before participating in the study. The study’s protocol was approved by the Scientific Ethics Committee of the

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University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Physically less active group. Physically less active adults were recruited through

advertisements in local newspapers. All interested individuals (N = 152) were screened in more detail using an online questionnaire in order to then select the suitable participants. The participants needed to meet three inclusion criteria: 1) Age: must be aged 30–50 years; 2) Working status: must be in work (employed or self-employed); and 3) Physical activity: must not exceed moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level of 2.5 hours per week (Haskell et al., 2007). Individuals’ working status was assessed by a question enquiring about

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their full-time employment status. The answer options were: 1) working as an employee, 2) studying, 3) on sick leave, 4) unemployed, 5) on maternity/paternity leave, 6) retired, and 7) if

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other, please explain (e.g., self-employed). Self-reported physical activity was measured with questions related to participants’ MVPA during the last seven days. Respondents were told to include all activity for which the physical effort was moderate or greater, including transportation to work and physical

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activity during leisure time that may accelerate their heart rate and breathing (e.g., brisk

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walking, running, heavy gardening. The physical activity level was determined by the questions: “During the last 7 days, on how many days did you carry out physical activity of at least moderate intensity that lasted for at least 10 minutes each time and for a total of at least 30 minutes across one day?” The response options ranged from 0 to 7 days per week. In addition, they were asked: “How much time in total did you spend doing this type of physical

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activity during leisure time?” This estimate was rounded to the nearest half hour. The participants who were under 30 and those over 50 years old and studied full-time

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or were unemployed, retired, or on sick leave were excluded. Only those participants who were working full-time were included to the study (e.g., those employed or self-employed).

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In addition, those participants who self-reported their total MVPA time being more than 2.5 hours per week were excluded. Seventy participants met the inclusion criteria and were selected for the study.

However, 10 of these individuals could not participate due to the research schedule and/or health-related reasons. Also, one participant’s data were excluded due to invalid physical activity monitoring, and one participant was excluded from the physically less active group due to having a very high physical activity level according to the objective measurements.

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Altogether, 58 physically less active adults were considered suitable and included in the analysis.

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Physically active group. Physically active adults were recruited through three local fitness centers using advertisements. All 65 participants were screened in more detail with an online questionnaire based on the same selection criteria set for the physically less active group, with the exception that the ‘active’ participants needed to meet or exceed the currently

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recommended minimum moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level of 2.5 hours

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per week. All 65 participants who met the three criteria (age, working status, activity level) were selected for the study. However, 10 of the selected individuals could not participate due to health-related reasons and timetable difficulties. Also, five individuals’ data were excluded due to technical problems with their physical activity monitoring. Altogether, 50 physically

Measures

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active adults were included in the analysis.

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Objectively measured physical activity. Physical activity was measured objectively

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with an accelerometer (ActiGraph-GT1M, developed by ActiGraph LLC, Pensacola, Florida). Participants were asked to wear the accelerometer on their right hip, attached by an elastic belt during all waking hours for seven consecutive days. The ActiGraph accelerometer is a small and light instrument that records integrated acceleration information as an activity count, providing an objective estimate of the intensity of vertical bodily movement. The outcome variables were: 1) time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA time, min/day); 2) time spent in health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA time, min/day); and 3) steps per day. MVPA was defined as physical activity that exceeds the intensity of

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1,952 counts/min (Freedson, Melanson, & Sirard, 1998), and HEPA was defined as continuous MVPA lasting for at least 10 minutes at a time. Regarding participants’ wearing the accelerometer on their body, its measurement of active epoch lengths was set to 10

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seconds per time and non-wear time was recognized by any continuous zero count that lasted more than 60 minutes. The ActiLife (version 5) accelerometer software was used for data collection, and customized software was used for data reduction and analysis. In order to

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meet at least 80% of the data reliability criterion and thus quality for use as representative data in the analysis, at least three of the seven days of data gathering (Matthews, Ainsworth,

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Thompson, & Bassett, 2002) were required to have shown a minimum of 500 minutes of objectively measured accelerometer-wearing time per day. The internal consistency of the objectively measured physical activity across the different measurement days was high (α = .84 for MVPA, α = .82 for HEPA, and α = .85 for steps).

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Mindfulness skills. Participants’ ability to be mindful of the present moment was measured using the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills, KIMS. The KIMS is a 39item self-report inventory used to assess mindfulness skills. The questionnaire contained four

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different, specific subscales representing mindfulness skills: 1) Observing, 2) Describing, 3)

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Acting with awareness, and 4) Accepting without judgment (Baer, Smith, & Allen, 2004). The observing subscale involves observing, noticing, or attending to various stimuli, including internal (cognitions, bodily sensations) and external phenomena (sounds, smells), e.g. “I notice changes in my body, such as whether my breathing slows down or speeds up”. The describing subscale measures the participant’s ability to describe, label, or notice observed phenomena by applying words in a non-judgmental way, e.g. “I’m good at finding the words to describe my feelings”. The acting with awareness subscale measures the ability to be attentive and engage fully in one’s current activity, e.g. “When I do things, my mind wanders

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off and I’m easily distracted”. The subscale of accepting without judgment measures how reality is allowed to be perceived with neutrality, that is, without judging, avoiding, changing, or escaping from it, e.g. “I criticize myself for having irrational or inappropriate emotions”.

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Participants rated each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (never or very

rarely true) to 5 (almost always or always true). Items reflected either direct descriptions of the mindfulness skills or the absence (reverse-scored) of that skill (Baer et al., 2004). In the

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present study, the internal consistency of the questionnaire was good (α = .83).

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Psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility was assessed using the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, AAQ-2 (Hayes et al., 2006), which is a 10-item Likert-type questionnaire that assesses people’s ability to take a non-elaborative, nonjudgmental approach to their internal events, so that they can focus on the present moment and act in a way that is congruent with their values and goals, rather than merely reacting to

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their internal events (e.g., fears, urges, prejudices). The questions of the AAQ-2 were formulated as statements, e.g: “It’s okay if I remember something unpleasant”, “My painful

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experiences and memories make it difficult for me to live a life that I would value” and, “I’m afraid of my feelings”. The items were rated from 1 (never true) to 7 (always true). Negative

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items were reverse-scored. An individual’s total score indicated his or her amount of psychological flexibility. The AAQ-2 has been reported to have shown good reliability and validity (Bond & Bunce, 2003; Hayes et al., 2004). The questionnaire proved to be internally consistent in this study (α = .87). Psychological symptoms. Psychological symptoms were also measured with the Symptom Checklist-90, SCL-90 (Holi, Marttunen, & Aalberg, 2003). Participants were asked to score the questionnaire’s 90 items using its 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much), indicating the rate of occurrence of the symptoms during the

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reference time. In the questionnaire the participants were asked to evaluate their symptoms as follows: “How much you have experienced or suffered from e.g. 1) headache 2) nervousness 3) fear 4) loss of appetite during the last week”. The instrument’s global index of distress is

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the Global Severity Index (GSI), which is the mean value of all of the 90 items combined. The cut-off score in the SCL-90 for the psychiatric screening purposes regarding the Finnish population is ≥0.91 (Holi et al., 2003). The internal consistency for psychological symptoms

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was good (α = .96).

Depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Beck

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Depression Inventory, BDI-II (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961; Dozois, Dobson, & Ahnberg, 1998; Nuevo, Lehtinen, Reyna-Liberato, & Ayuso-Mateos, 2009). The BDI-II is a 21-item scale measuring depression symptoms, including components of cognitive, behavioural, affective, and somatic aspects. Each item is rated on 4-point scale

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from 0 to 3. The items were formulated as statements e.g. “I´m not afraid of my future” (0 points), “I´m afraid of my future” (1 points), “I feel my future is hopeless” (2 points), “I feel my future is hopeless and will only get worse” (3 points). Based on the scores, depressive

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symptoms could be categorized into no/minimal depression (0–13 points), mild depression

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(14–19 points), moderate depression (20–28 points), or severe depression (29–63 points) levels. The cut-off score in the BDI-II for psychiatric screening purposes was ≥14. The internal consistency of this study’s measurements of the participants’ depressive symptoms was good (α = .89).

The language used in the questionnaires was Finnish. The questionnaire was given to the participants in the same session that the device for objective PA level was distributed. The participants posted the completed questionnaire and ActiGraph accelerometer back to the

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research centre after the seven days of measuring their own activity levels had been

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completed.

Statistical analysis

Means and standard deviations were calculated for both the physically less active and

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the active group. A univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test differences between group means. Furthermore, a univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was

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conducted to compare the psychological well-being of the two groups after controlling for potential confounding variables, such as body mass index (BMI) and diagnosed health problems as well as possible interactions between the variables. To control for Type I errors, the Bonferroni alpha correction procedure was used for all pairwise comparisons (adjusted

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significance level: p = .05/4). As the assumption of normality was not met, all p-values were calculated using the bootstrap method for stratified sampling (1,000 resamples). Bootstrap is a method for approximating the distribution of an estimator by sampling with replacement

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from the original data set (Boos & Stefanski, 2010). Cohen’s d (standardized mean

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difference) was reported to estimate between the group effect size, ES. The between-group effect size was calculated by dividing the difference between the group means by the pooled standard deviation of the two groups. A between-group effect size of ≥ 0.2 was considered small, ≥ 0.5 medium, and ≥ 0.8 large (Roth & Fonagy, 1996). The relation of objectively measured physical activity to mindfulness skills, psychological flexibility and psychological symptoms was studied regarding the whole sample (N = 108). The correlation coefficients between measures of psychological well-being and objectively assessed physical activity were calculated and tested for significance via bias-

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corrected, 95%-confidence intervals. These confidence intervals were calculated using the bootstrap method for stratified sampling (1,000 resamples). The significance level baseline

Results

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was set at p = .05. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 19.0.

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Psychological well-being among the physically less active versus the active group. Analysis of covariance showed that the physically active group had better mindfulness skills

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(KIMS, p = .009, d = -0.65 and showed more psychological flexibility (AAQ-2, p = .016, d = -0.44) than did the physically less active group (Table 2). Physically active adults also had less psychological symptoms (SCL-90, p = .001, d = 0.76) and scored lower in depression (BDI-II, p < .001, d = 1.00) than did the physically less active adults. After the Bonferroni

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adjustments (p = .05/4), the results remained significant in the variables of mindfulness skills, psychological and depressive symptoms.

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Associations between psychological variables and objectively measured physical activity. Mindfulness skills were associated with MVPA time (r(106) =.23, 95% CI [0.06,

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0.38]), but not with HEPA time (r(106) =.17, 95% CI[0, 0.35]). Psychological symptoms were significantly associated with all three physical activity variables (Table 3). The SCL-90 score was inversely associated with MVPA time (r(106) = -.27, 95% CI [-0.38, -0.13]), HEPA time (r(106) = -.28, 95% CI [-0.39, -0.15]), and steps per day (r(106) = -.24, 95% CI [-0.36, -0.11]). The BDI-II score was similarly inversely associated with MVPA time (r(106) = -.24, 95% CI [-0.38, -0.08]), HEPA time (r(106) = -.25, 95% CI [-0.40, -0.08]), and steps per day (r(106) = -.24, 95% CI [-0.36, -0.11]). Figures 1 and 2 show the relations between objectively measured MVPA times and the psychological variables, as well as the cut-off

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scores used for psychiatric screening purposes. The prevalence of psychological symptoms was higher in the physically less active group (SCL-90, 12.1%; BDI-II, 12.1%) compared to

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the physically active group (SCL-90, 2.0%; BDI-II, 2.0%). Associations with mindfulness skills, psychological flexibility and psychological symptoms. Mindfulness skills (KIMS) and psychological flexibility (AAQ-2) were inversely associated with the psychological symptom variable, indicating that higher rates of

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psychological symptoms (SCL-90, BDI-II) were negatively associated with mindfulness

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skills and psychological flexibility (Table 3). A significant positive correlation (r(106) =.47, 95% CI [0.33, 0.59]) was also observed between psychological flexibility and mindfulness skills.

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Discussion

The present study showed that physically active adults had better mindfulness skills

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compared to physically less active adults. In addition, our findings support the view that psychological well-being is associated with higher levels of physical activity. Objectively

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measured physical activity was also consistently associated with mindfulness skills, psychological and depressive symptoms. Due to the cross-sectional study design, the causal relationship between being

physically active (e.g., exercising in a fitness center) and having good mindfulness skills cannot be considered conclusive. However, the results indicate that mindfulness may be an important factor related to having a physically active lifestyle (Chatzisarantis & Hagger, 2007; Gilbert & Waltz, 2010; Ulmer et al., 2010). The benefits of mindfulness may be related to the greater awareness and acceptance of both internal (e.g., thoughts, feelings, sensations)

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and external experiences (Dutton 2008), which may be linked to better self-control and selfmonitoring skills (Gilbet & Waltz, 2010). In practice, this may mean that physically active adults may be more aware of their everyday routines and have a non-reactive way of

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responding to their own thoughts and feelings (e.g., “I’m too tired to go walking/jogging”) and to external cues (e.g., using escalators instead of stairs), which promotes their adherence to a physically active lifestyle.

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On the other hand, it is also possible that certain types of physical activity can

substantially contribute to the development of better mindfulness skills through mindful

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movement. In mindful movement, physical activity takes on the form of mindfulness, where one consciously experiences the movements of one’s body and is deliberately present in the whole practice of physical activity (Asztalos et al., 2012). Therefore, being physically active in a mindful way may at the same time enhance mindfulness skills, which have been shown

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to be associated with psychological flexibility and better well-being (Baer, 2003; Hayes, Pistorello, & Levin, 2012). Through experiencing mindful physical activity regularly, a new sense of oneself can be experienced and positive mental health benefits may be gained. This

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may also heighten the positive experience of physical activity.

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There are only few studies that have evaluated the association between physical activity and psychological well-being using objective measures of physical activity (Fox, Stathi, McKenna, & Davis, 2007; Hamer & Stamatakis, 2010; Yasunaga et al., 2006), and the results have been inconsistent. In the Health Survey for England, objectively assessed physical activity was not associated with psychological health (Hamer & Stamatakis, 2010). However, another study observed a positive association between objectively measured physical activity and health-related quality of life among Japanese older adults (Yasunaga et al., 2006), and a weak correlation has been observed linking objectively measured physical

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activity with quality of life, subjective well-being and physical perceptions in older people (Fox et al., 2007). The results of the present study support the earlier findings of objectively measured physical activity being inversely associated with psychological/depressive

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symptoms.

Limitations of this study include a relatively small sample size. In future, a larger and random study population with wide individual differences in physical activity is needed to

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confirm these observed associations between physical activity and psychological variables. Both self-reported and objective measurements of physical activity are needed. In the current

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study the categorization into physically less active and active groups was based on selfreported physical activity during recruitment and therefore the observations between the two groups are limited to self-reported physical activity. Despite that physical activity was also measured objectively, the correlation analysis may be limited due to the sampling method.

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Objective measures of participants´ physical activity level by accelerometers brought out some overlaps between these two originally classified groups on the individual level (see

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Figures 1 and 2) due to the reason that self-report measures of physical activity can be both higher and lower than objectively measured levels of physical activity (Prince et al., 2008).

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Some participants who self-reported their physical activity level less than 2,5 hours a week and based on this evaluation classified as physically less active individuals were in fact more active during the objective measurements than some individuals in the physically active group. Conversely, some individuals in the physically active group, when their physical activity was measured objectively, were found to be less active than they had perceived themselves to be. This overlap regarding subjective perception may partly represent the difficulty of estimating one’s own physical activity level and shows the individual variance among the groups. It is also worth pointing out that the physically active adults were recruited

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from fitness centres and therefore this group is not a universal representation of physically active individuals. In addition, most of the participants were female in both groups.

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Despite the fact that the group classifications (physically less active vs. active) were defined based on the participants’ self-reported physical activity, we also monitored all

participants’ physical activity levels objectively with accelerometers. This can be considered as a particular strength of this study. Even though objectively measured physical activity has

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a high reliability, it is also evident that seven days is a relatively short period of time and a

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longer measurement period would provide more representative data regarding individuals’ everyday lifestyle. An accelerometer has also limitations to measure physical activity during bicycling and strength training, and could not be worn when swimming. To conclude our results, this study showed that physically active adults had better mindfulness skills compared to physically less active adults. In addition, the current results

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confirm earlier findings that a physically active lifestyle is associated with better psychological well-being. The present results further suggest that mindfulness skills could be

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an important factor behind a physically active lifestyle and psychological well-being. However, more research with prospective designs and larger groups is needed to test this

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hypothesis in the future.

Acknowledgements

The production of this study has been made possible through a financial contribution

from the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture and the Juho Vainio Foundation. We also acknowledge the contribution of Janne Kulmala and Harto Hakonen, who helped in collecting and treating the data of the objective physical activity measures.

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Appendix

p-valuea

.098 .524

62.7 (24.7) 37.9 (22.3) 12050 (3809)