College students' declining physical activity levels and increasing self-reported stress levels

Introduction: Regular physical activity improves physiological and psychological health. Given the benefits, one would expect exercise to be the norm, but activity levels decline from high school to college. Declining physical activity, increased academic pressure, and major life transitions experienced by college students lead to high stress levels. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between physical activity, gender, and self-reported stress levels among college students.

Methods: A survey was administered during the spring 2006 semester to a convenience sample of students at a large, Southeastern university to determine whether physically active college students report less self-reported stress than inactive students. The 148-question survey provided data to analyze the relationship between stress and a variety of other variables such as BMI, marital status, class standing, and perceptions of weight, physical fitness, and abusive experiences. The data was entered into SPSS for analysis.

Results: Gender, diet, and exercise were shown to impact stress levels in college students. Perceived weight and perceived fitness were statistically significant. Students that exercised three days per week reported a lower mean stress level than sedentary students. Abusive experiences were strongly associated with stress in this sample of college students.

Discussion: Stress is linked to many preventable chronic diseases. Physical activity is a positive diversion from stressful thoughts and situations. College students learn many of their adult behaviors during their college experience. Therefore, it is vitally important that unhealthy behaviors and coping mechanisms be proactively addressed during this time.