The Impact of Life Stress on Physical Activity in Undergraduates

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the impact of stress on physical activity (PA) is dependent upon the individual habitual exercise. Under periods of life stress, those with consistent exercise self-report more activity, while those with less consistent history self-report greater inactivity (Lutz, et al. 2010). This study was designed to replicate this with objective measures of activity. PURPOSE: To examine the effect of self-reported life stress on objective measures of physical activity. METHODS: Participants were a convenience sample of 49 undergraduates. Participants wore an ActiGraph GT1M Accelerometer for 7 consecutive days. Five participants were eliminated due to insufficient wear time (at least 9 hours/day). On each day of the week, they completed the Perceived Stress Scale. This was used to identify their highest and lowest stress day of the week (excluding weekends). In addition, participants were divided according to their reports of consistent exercise behavior. ANALYSIS: A 2 (day) X 2 (group) ANOVA, with repeated measures on the first factor, was conducted to examine differences in the percent of time spent sedentary and in MVPA. RESULTS: Results indicated that those who do not exercise regularly increased their MVPA minutes (p<.05) by approximately 30 minutes on their high stress day compared to their low stress day. In contrast, those who exercise regularly did not change their MVPA minutes (p>.15) between low and high stress days. DISCUSSION: These results differ from those of Lutz et al (2010). This may be due to the difference in study design, including: population under study and the measure of physical activity.