Publishing date: 01 Nov 2021

Submission deadline: 02 Jul 2021

Lead Editor: Weiyun Chen¹

Guest Editors; Ali Khani Jeihooni² | Xiangli Gu³ | Haichun Sun⁴

¹University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

²Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

³University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, USA

⁴University of South Florida, Tampa, USA

Papers are published upon acceptance, regardless of the Special Issue publication date.

Description

Mental health problems have been major public health concerns in youth, young adults, and older adults. Mental health challenges are leading causes for school and college students to experience academic struggles in school and psychosocial problems in daily life. Likewise, mental health problems negatively influence the quality of life and independence of elderlies. It is well documented that regular physical activity (PA) is essential to preventing and alleviating mental health problems, and to improving mental health and well-being across the lifespan.

However, most school children, college students, and older adults do not engage in the recommended daily physical activity. Thus, there is an urgent need for assessing the effects of PA on mental health and well-being across the lifespan and developing innovative approaches to promoting PA, mental health, and well-being.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together original research articles and review articles that examine the relationships between physical activity, mental health, and well-being. We hope that this Special Issue will highlight the effects of combining innovative technology with physical activity on mental health and well-being.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Exploring associations of type and intensity levels of physical activity with mental health and well-being in a targeted population with and without chronic conditions
• Identifying mediators and moderators of the relationship between physical activity and mental health in a targeted population
• Identifying factors that contribute to developing and maintaining healthy lifestyles for a targeted population
• Identifying factors that contribute to developing and improving mental health and well-being for a targeted population
• Examining the effects of healthy lifestyle promotion interventions on increasing physical activity, mental health, and/or well-being in a targeted population
• Assessing the feasibility and fidelity of the intervention implementation on physical and mental health using a mixed-methods approach
• Examining the effects of technology-enhanced healthy lifestyle interventions on improving physical activity, mental health, and well-being for a targeted population
• Examine the effectiveness of a virtual intervention program promoting physical activity, mental health, and well-being for a targeted population