Role of physical activity in mental well being of medical students

Abstract

Background: Mental disorders are a major issue these days. Physical activities improve disease outcomes but it is not an easy task for medical students to manage them. Objectives of this study were to formulate the relationship between mental status and physical activities to can work for the betterment of health conditions among medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted among students of Rawalpindi Medical University from March to May 2017. Sample size was 400. Students from all five years of MBBS participated. The questionnaires administered were Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The results were categorized into active, minimally active and totally inactive for physical activity and four classes as normal (0–7), mild (8–10), moderate (11–15) and severe (16–21) were made for anxiety and depression. Chi square test was used for analysis. Results: Mean age of participants was 20.54±1.86. Mean value of anxiety was 8.29±3.89 and depression was 5.49±3.31. Non-anxious students were 72 (43%) and non-depressed were 297 (74.25%). Anxiety and depression had significant correlation (p=0.00). Only 68.8% (n=86) males and 56.73% (n=156) females were active. Alliance of gender with levels of physical activity was established (p=0.007). Anxiety and depression were low among active group (p=0.05) and high among inactive group (0.069). Conclusions:  Existence of mental disarray is prominent and physical activity is scarce among medical students. Their involvement in healthy recreation can contribute to better doctors’ output in future for beneficence of human being.

Pak J Physiol 2019;15(4):27?30