Physical Heath Benefit in College Students


During college years, students become more sedentary and as their physical activities decrease, their Body Mass Index and weight increases. It’s a gradual process, students come out of college significantly less active and heavier compared to when they started their freshman year. Overall health benefits of physical activity significantly reduces ones rick of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and even some types of cancers. Being more physically active strengthens your bones and muscles, improves your overall mental health and mood, and increases your chances of living longer. A study conducted of 493 college students, proved that between men and women, men reported more hours per week doing sedentary behaviors than women, but they also reported higher levels of exercise compared to women.


Mental Health Benefits of Exercise

Of course exercise can improve your physical health and your physique, it can even add years to your life. People who exercise regularly tend to do so because them a sense of well-being. It gives them more energy throughout the day, better sleep at night, and helps them to feel more relaxed and positive about themselves and their lives.

Effects of physical activity extend beyond the short-term. Research shows that exercise can also help alleviate long-term depression. Exercise can boost a depressed person’s outlook by helping them return to meaningful activity and providing a sense of accomplishment. Studies show that active people are less depressed than inactive people. Then there’s the fact that a person’s responsiveness to stress is moderated by activity. “Exercise may be a way of biologically toughening up the brain so stress has less of a central impact,” Otto.


Exercise Performance Dissatisfaction Physical Exercise

The Impact of Exercise Performance Dissatisfaction and Physical Exercise on Symptoms of Depression Among College Students: A Gender Comparison” studied how exercise performance would affect the 895 participants from different colleges in the state of Hawaii’s views of themselves and their happiness or lack thereof in terms of body image and overall state of mind. “Females reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and exercise performance dissatisfaction than males. Measures of physical exercise were negatively associated with depression among males but not females and exercise performance dissatisfaction was positively correlated with depression for both genders.



Click here for additional information:

CDC

TANDFONLINE

AMERICAN PHYSCHOLOCIAL ASSOCIATION