Are Physical Activities Associated With Perceived Stress? The Evidence From the China Health and Nutrition Survey

Psychological stress is a negative affective state. The association between physical activity and psychological stress was commonly reported in previous researches. Few published studies with large sample sizes have explored such an association in Chinese population. The current research aims to assess the association between perceived stress and physical activity preferences, as well as the association between risk of high perceived stress and physical activity behaviors (e.g., sports-, transport-, occupational-related physical activity, sedentary activities and time in bed). The data were collected from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) in 2015. Generalized linear models and logistic regression models were used to explore the association between perceived stress and physical activity. In total, 11,066 participants were included in the current analysis. For physical activity preferences, we found that “like” preference of all six mentioned domains of activities contributed to lower perceived stress (i.e., lower perceived stress scale −14 score, all β < 0 and p < 0.05). For physical activity behaviors, the results indicated that none/low intensity physical activity behaviors (e.g., sports-, occupational- related, sedentary) were associated with risk of high perceived stress, except that low intensity of transport-related activities seemed to be protective from high stress. However, the association between intensity of physical activity behaviors and perceived stress was not simply the higher the better. High intensity of all these physical activity behaviors was also associated with high perceived stress. Our findings suggest that positive preferences and moderate physical activity behaviors were associated with low perceived stress. The findings herein highlight the effect of regulating physical activity on perceived stress, as well as inform potential strategies to reduce psychological stress.