Physical activity as a stressbuster: Insights from university students
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate how university students' psychological stress can be reduced by physical activity. Using a stratified random sampling technique, 580 students (52.93% males and 47.07% females) were chosen from three private institutions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Participants were emailed a questionnaire with 20 questions that was created based on prior research. The findings indicated that exercise positively influenced mood, reduced anxiety and depression, improved focus, and enhanced overall quality of life. Physical activity was also found to lower psychological stress and support mental health. Differences in responses were observed across gender, academic level, and college, with male students reporting slightly higher mean scores than females. Statistical analysis revealed significant gender differences (α ≤ 0.05) in perceptions of the role of physical activity in reducing psychological stress, favoring male students. This study highlights the importance of physical activity in helping university students manage psychological stress and emphasizes the necessity of integrating and promoting physical activity programs within the campus setting.
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References
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The works and papers that are published in this Journal are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publication Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) has the Publication Rights (Copyright) to the published papers and works, and favors and permits the reusing of the same under the license indicated in point 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2013
2. The papers and works are to be published in the digital edition of the Journal under the license Creative Commons Reconocimiento-No Comercial-Sin Obra Derivada 3.0 España (legal text). The copying, using, spreading, transmitting and publicly displaying of the papers, works or publication are permitted as long as: i) the authors and original sources (Journal, publisher and URL of the publication) are quoted; ii) it is not used for commercial benefit; iii) the existence and specifications of this users license are mentioned.
3. Conditions of Self-Archiving. It is permitted and encouraged that the authors spread electronically the pre-print (before printing) and/or post-print (the revised, evaluated and accepted) versions of their papers or works before their publication since this favors their circulation and early diffusion and therefore can help increase their citation and quotation, and also there reach through the academic community.
