Abstract
The health benefits of regular physical activity and aerobic exercise are undisputed in the literature. The present series of pilot studies had two major objectives: (a) examine mental health, well-being, and regular physical activity of university students and (b) explore the potential health benefits of short-term aerobic exercise on university students in an online and a laboratory study. Mental health and well-being were measured before (Time 1, T1) and after (Time 2, T2) a 6 week (online study) and 2 week (laboratory study) low- to moderate-intensity aerobic exercise intervention. Mental health and well-being were assessed using standardized self-report measures of depression, anxiety, positive and negative affect, perceived stress and coping strategies, body dissatisfaction, and quality of life. The effects of the aerobic exercise were compared to a cognitive non-exercise control condition (online study), motor coordination exercise (laboratory study), and a waiting list (online and laboratory). A total of 185 university students were recruited from German universities at T1. Further, 74 (women: n = 67) students completed the 6-week intervention. Similarly, 32 (women: n = 30) participants completed the 2 week intervention (laboratory study). At T1, 36.6% of the students (women and men) reported experiencing depressive symptoms. 41.83% of them (women and men) had high levels of state anxiety. All the students reported experiencing stress (e.g., due to uncertainty related to factors such as their finances, job, and social relationships). At T1, regular physical activity was negatively correlated with self-reported depression, anxiety, and perceived psychosomatic stress and positively correlated with quality of life and positive affect. Among women, cardiovascular fitness (operationalized as resting heart rate variability) was negatively correlated with self-reported anxiety (state) and depression at T1 (laboratory study). The 6 week aerobic exercise intervention resulted in significant improvements in self-reported depression, overall perceived stress, and perceived stress due to uncertainty. The present results confirm that there is a relationship between regular physical activity, cardiovascular fitness, mental health, and well-being among university students. They support the hypothesis that short-term aerobic exercise interventions can act as buffer against depression and perceived stress in university students after 6 weeks of aerobic exercise of low to moderate intensity.
Highlights
Health Benefits of Regular Physical Activity and ExerciseThe health benefits of regular physical activity and exercise are undisputed in the literature
Physical activity was significantly related to selfreported depressive symptoms, anxiety, positive affect, and quality of life, irrespective of the gender of the participants and the academic degrees that they were pursuing
They confirm that regular engagement in low- to moderateintensity aerobic exercises for 6 weeks is effective in alleviating subclinical depressive symptoms and perceived stress among university students without a history of depression and health concerns
Summary
Health Benefits of Regular Physical Activity and ExerciseThe health benefits of regular physical activity and exercise are undisputed in the literature. Large health benefits have been reported among individuals who have experienced significant losses in their psychological and physical functions as a result of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, depression, and osteoporosis (for an overview, see Taylor et al, 1985; Paluska and Schwenk, 2000; Penedo and Dahn, 2005; Haskell et al, 2007; Knapen et al, 2015; Ruegsegger and Booth, 2018) Among such patient groups whose symptom severity requires secondary and tertiary prevention, significant improvements in cardiovascular fitness and self-reported mood, anxiety, and depressive symptoms can be achieved by regularly engaging in physical activity. The observed effects may depend on the methods used to measure exercise-related health gains (e.g., self-report, behavioral, neurophysiological)
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