What is it about?
Many college students today struggle with stress, anxiety, and low mood. Academic pressure, uncertainty about the future, and constant smartphone use all play a role in shaping how students feel on a daily basis. While physical exercise is widely known to be good for health, it is not always clear how exercise helps students feel emotionally better, especially in a digital age dominated by smartphones. This study set out to explain that process in a clear and practical way. Using data from over 16,000 college students in China, we explored the relationship between physical exercise and negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, and depression. The results showed a clear pattern: students who exercised more tended to experience fewer negative emotions. However, the most important finding was not just that exercise helps, but why it helps. First, physical exercise was found to increase self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s confidence in their ability to handle challenges and manage daily demands. When students feel more capable and confident, they are better equipped to cope with stress and emotional difficulties. Second, exercise was linked to lower levels of smartphone addiction. Students who were more physically active were less likely to rely excessively on their phones for comfort, distraction, or emotional escape. The study also revealed a chain effect. Physical exercise boosts self-efficacy, higher self-efficacy reduces problematic smartphone use, and lower smartphone addiction leads to better emotional well-being. In other words, exercise helps students feel more confident, this confidence reduces unhealthy phone habits, and together these changes help lower stress, anxiety, and depression. These findings matter because they offer a simple and realistic message: regular physical activity is not only about fitness or weight control. It is a powerful tool for mental health. Encouraging students to be more physically active may help them build confidence, reduce their dependence on smartphones, and manage negative emotions more effectively. Universities, educators, and policymakers can use this evidence to design campus environments and programs that promote active lifestyles as part of a broader mental health strategy.
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Why is it important?
This study is both timely and distinctive because it addresses a growing mental health challenge among college students within the context of modern digital life. While many studies have shown that physical exercise is associated with better mental health, far fewer have explained how and through what pathways exercise influences students’ emotional well-being especially in an era where smartphone use is deeply embedded in daily life. Our work fills this important gap. What makes this study unique is its chain-mediation approach, which moves beyond simple cause-and-effect explanations. Rather than only stating that exercise reduces stress or anxiety, this research demonstrates a clear psychological pathway: physical exercise increases students’ self-efficacy (confidence in managing challenges), higher self-efficacy reduces smartphone addiction, and together these changes lead to lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. This integrated explanation has rarely been tested at this scale and provides a more complete picture of students’ lived experiences. The study is also timely because smartphone overuse has become one of the most pressing mental health concerns among young adults worldwide. Many students turn to their phones as a coping mechanism for stress, loneliness, or academic pressure, but excessive use often worsens emotional problems rather than solving them. By showing that physical exercise can indirectly reduce smartphone addiction through improved self-efficacy, this research connects physical activity, digital behavior, and emotional health in a way that reflects real-world student lifestyles today. Another key strength is the large and diverse sample of more than 16,000 college students, which increases confidence in the findings and makes the conclusions highly relevant for educators, university administrators, and policymakers. The results are not only statistically robust but also practically meaningful. The difference this study can make lies in its actionable message: promoting physical exercise is not just about physical fitness it is a strategic mental health intervention. Universities can use these findings to design programs that encourage movement, build student confidence, and reduce harmful reliance on smartphones. By framing exercise as a tool for emotional resilience and digital balance, this research has the potential to influence campus policies, student support services, and public health strategies, ultimately helping students lead healthier and more emotionally balanced lives.
Perspectives
From my personal perspective as a researcher and educator working closely with university students, this publication is especially meaningful because it reflects what I consistently observe on campus but rarely see clearly connected in empirical research. Many students do not struggle because of a single issue; rather, their emotional difficulties sit at the intersection of academic pressure, low self confidence, and excessive reliance on smartphones as a coping tool. This study allowed me to examine those everyday realities through solid data and theory, rather than intuition alone. What struck me most while working on this research was how central self-efficacy turned out to be. Physical exercise is often promoted to students as something they “should do” for health, yet many disengage because they do not feel competent, motivated, or confident. Our findings suggest that exercise works not simply because it burns energy or distracts the mind, but because it helps students rebuild a sense of control over themselves. That renewed confidence then spills over into healthier digital habits and better emotional regulation. For me, this reframes exercise as a psychological empowerment tool rather than just a lifestyle recommendation. I am also personally motivated by the digital dimension of this work. Smartphone addiction is frequently discussed in moral or disciplinary terms students are told to “use their phones less” but that advice rarely works. This study suggests a more humane and realistic pathway: instead of focusing only on restriction, we can strengthen students’ internal resources through physical activity so they no longer need to rely on their phones to manage stress or negative emotions. Finally, this publication matters to me because it bridges research and practice. The findings speak directly to universities, lecturers, coaches, and student support services. They suggest that relatively simple, low-cost interventions such as creating supportive, confidence-building physical activity environments can have meaningful mental health benefits. Personally, I see this study as a step toward more integrated student well-being strategies, where physical activity, psychological resilience, and digital balance are addressed together rather than in isolation
MOHAMAD NIZAM NAZARUDIN
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The impact of college students’ physical exercise on negative emotion: The chain mediating role of self-efficacy and smartphone addiction, PLOS One, February 2026, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0338382.
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