Introduction: To participate in sports activities, cause the individuals to be close in terms of space and place and provides various ways and opportunities to become skilled in society, and in general, it is considered as an educational process and attitude in social and cultural aspects to create and increase the individuals' happiness. To be happy is human beings' heartfelt wish. One of the subjects that have recently been noted is the "knowledge of happiness". Nowadays, psychologists put too much importance on mental health and happiness. Seligman (2003) expects that until 2015, among every two persons, one of them will become depressed. So, studies on happiness and its related factors are the most important preferences in psychology. Purpose: Given the importance and recognition of mental health and its relationship to social health along with happiness and joy and understanding of the people in charges of mental phenomena and representing a policy, may confirm their research goals in this area. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the effect of the selected exercise on male students' general health and happiness in Payame Noor University in Babol. Materials and methods: 80 male students were selected voluntarily that divided into two groups: the experimental group (40 cases) and the control group (40 cases). The exercise protocol in experimental group consisted of playing succor in a creational and competitive way for 8 weeks, two sessions a week, each session lasting 60 to 90 minutes. To measure the happiness index, the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was used which has 29 questions with four options. To measure the general health, the general health questionnaire (GHQ) was used which has 28 articles and developed in 1979 by Goldberg and Hiller and have four subscales: 1) physical symptoms, 2) anxiety symptoms, 3) social functioning, and 4) depression symptoms. Information obtained by dependent and independent T test analyzed through SPPS statistical program at level 0 / 05. Results: In sample group, after 8 weeks of exercise, there was a significant improvement of happiness, physical symptoms, depression and impaired social functioning and general health indexes. In the control group, no significant changes were observed in the desired characteristic. Conclusion: The findings indicated a significant increase in happiness scale. In other words, group exercises will increase happiness in students. In sports and group activities, people will learn to help others, compatibility to individuals' teamwork, self-confidence, friendship, to have a happy life and learn to be happy and generally, this is group activities specially group exercises that increase the happiness of the people. In addition, the findings showed that the exercise program of this study after 8 weeks caused a significant decrease in physical symptoms, depression, impaired social functioning and led to improve general health. Exercise, in different ways, leads to mental health. According to the findings, it can be concluded that regular exercise can increase happiness and improve general health in students. The results can be noted by those who are involved in, to plan and develop programs and sports activities, as a constructive factor for mental health promotion in students. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu
