Research with nearly 80,000 UK parkrunners has revealed how the mental health benefits of the free weekly 5k event are driving an increase in life satisfaction for people who take part in it.

The findings, based on the biggest ever study of UK parkrun participants led by Sheffield Hallam University, also highlighted how parkrun is worth £689 per person per year in benefits to the UK economy and in savings to the NHS from those who regularly take part, making it one of the most cost-effective and preventative public health initiatives in the UK.

Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) said that their life satisfaction had improved through running and walking at parkrun whilst 73 per cent said it had improved through volunteering. The survey asked participants to rank factors contributing to improved life satisfaction, with happiness, mental wellbeing, personal achievement, and the chance to have fun rated highest.

The research also revealed that the biggest increases in life satisfaction were likely to be felt by those who rated their health as “very bad” when registering for parkrun with an estimated 1.6 point increase in life satisfaction based on the Office of National Statistics 1-10 scale of life satisfaction measure. Those least active, in early middle age, and participants from deprived communities were also more likely to benefit the most from taking part in parkrun.

Professor Steve Haake, from Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, said: “Our previous research showed that life satisfaction increased for those who took part in parkrun - what we didn’t know was how parkrun ‘worked’. This new study has given us an answer to this question and it is improvements to mental health, including happiness and a sense of personal achievement, that are more important to this increase in life satisfaction than improvements to physical health”