Adventure activities as a means of counteracting stress in students

Abstract

The most effective anti-stress measure for students of higher educational institutions is the use of organized health-improving physical activity. However, in the conditions of martial law, the opportunity for students to study in the usual mode is limited. Therefore, today the urgent problem is the study and analysis of new, most effective approaches to organizing active leisure. The goal is to generalize the foreign experience of organizing adventure events and evaluate the impact of adventure programs on the stress level of higher education students. Methods – analysis of foreign literature on adventure activities. The results. The best positive experience of organizing students' entertainment activities was studied. It is established that the concept of «adventure activity» concretizes the concept of «active leisure time», emphasizing the greater risk that occurs during its implementation and the need to make more physical and/or mental efforts. It was established that extreme activity has a more pronounced effect on students' perception of stress due to the opportunity to distract from everyday problems, as well as greater emotionality compared to other types of active leisure. Furthermore, it was determined that participation in short-term adventure programs increases students' resistance to stress, reduces the level of its perception and has a long-term positive effect that can last for 2 - 3 years. Conclusions. The expediency of using adventure programs in the practice of physical education and organization of students' active leisure time has been proven as a more effective means of increasing their resistance to stress and reducing its harmful effects. Prospects for further research. Further research will be aimed at developing a short-term adventure program that would ensure stress reduction in Ukrainian higher education students in the conditions of armed conflict in the country.