ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Relating physical exercise to "lying flat" among Chinese college students: The chain mediation of temporal focus and the sense of meaning in life
Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai City, China
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Abstract
In recent years, the phenomenon of "neijuan" (involution) has intensified pressures among Chinese college students and often leads to burnout and "lying flat", a state of disengagement characterized by reduced effort and low ambition. We hypothesized that physical exercise might mitigate "lying flat" tendencies, with temporal focus and sense of meaning in life acting as mediators. This study employed a cross-sectional design, surveying 679 undergraduate students. Key results revealed a significant negative correlation between physical exercise and behavioral "lying flat". Indirect effects were also significant, with the sense of meaning in life mediating the relationship between physical exercise and both behavioral "lying flat" and psychological "lying flat". Additionally, a chain mediation effect was observed, where temporal focus and sense of meaning in life together mediated the relationship between physical exercise and behavioral "lying flat" as well as psychological "lying flat". Physical exercise is negatively associated with "lying flat", particularly behavioral "lying flat", with temporal focus and sense of meaning in life as chain mediators. These findings indicate the necessity of integrating physical exercise programs and meaning-focused initiatives in universities to combat "lying flat", potentially improving student well-being and societal outcomes.
Summary
Keywords
Lying Flat, Mediation, physical exercise, Sense of meaning in life, temporal focus
Received
07 August 2025
Accepted
27 January 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Cao and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Yaogang Han
Disclaimer
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