scholarly journals Role of physical activity on mental health and academic performance among medical students: a cross-sectional study

Author(s):  
Joseph Jose ◽  
Sruthi M. V.

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) defines physical activity as “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Since medical education is considered stressful due to voluminous academics, it leaves little time for the students to relax and recreate. Hence the present study had been undertaken with an aim to study various trends of physical activity, health status and academic performance among medical students and to find out any association between physical activity and health status, academic performance of medical students.Methods: A cross-sectional study had been undertaken among 2nd and 3rd year MBBS students of our medical college. Physical activity was assessed using GPAQ version 2 questionnaire and mental status of students was measured using hospital anxiety and depression scale. Height, weight, and BMI, of each student along with demographic details were collected. The total percentage of any one of the internal marks of each student was taken for assessing the academic performance.Results: Out of total 150 medical students it was found that 44% of medical students were physically inactive and 40.7% of them were highly active. Majority of female students 70.3% were physically inactive and overweight and obesity were higher among them when compared with male students. But anxiety and depressive symptoms were higher among male students. There was statistically significant difference in association between level of physical activity and mental health. The academic performance also increased with increase in physical activity.Conclusions: Physical activity and mental health are related proportionally and it bears a positive influence on the education of the youth. The regular physical activity improves the mental status and academic performance among students.

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-130
Author(s):  
Shamaila Hassnain ◽  
Adila Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Saad Qayyum ◽  
Muhammad Gulraiz Farrukh ◽  
Usama Ahsan Nawaz ◽  
...  

Objective: The objective isto assess the effects of lockdown on mental health of medical students of a Private medical college in Lahore. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study has been conducted to assess the mental health status of medical students during lockdown using the designed scale DASS 21. The reliability of scale was tested using Cronbach alpha. The scale is based on 3 sub-scales used to measure depression, anxiety and stress. A sample of size 230 students from different years of MBBS is used. The data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 Results & Discussion:The proportion of females participated in study was comparatively higher. The females were observed as more depressive. As observed 62.6% of medical students suffered from mild to very severe depression during the lockdown period.Anxiety was observed among 52% of the students. More than half dealt with various levels of anxiety and faced stress. Conclusion: COVID-19 has caused extensive distress in the lives and mental health of millions of medical students. The findings of this study indicate that depression, anxiety and stress are common morbidities amongst medical students, particularly those in their clinical training years. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.20(5) 2021 p.125-130


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchen Ying ◽  
Liemin Ruan ◽  
Fanqian Kong ◽  
Binbin Zhu ◽  
Yunxin Ji ◽  
...  

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Husam Eldin Elsawi Khalafalla ◽  
Mohamed Salih Mahfouz ◽  
Muath Hassan Ibrahim Najmi ◽  
Sayyaf Abdullah Mohammad Najmi ◽  
Qasem Ali Yahya Arishi ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Physical activity is one of the most important factors that affect human health; it reduces the chances of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast and colon cancer, and depression.OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to measure prevalence of physical activity and to determine the factors affecting the level of physical activity among medical student in Jazan University.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the students of medical colleges of Jazan University. A random sample of 419 was determined using most recent physical activity prevalence. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection.RESULTS: There is a high prevalence of inactivity among study participants (88.1%). Females (91.7%) were more significantly (p value=0.013) inactive than males (83.8%). The most influential barrier perceived by participants is (heavy) academic work as well as lack of places for physical activity; the latter factor being more effective in hindering female students' physical activity.CONCLUSION: Results revealed that the inactivity rate was very high among medical students. The results of this study call for a well-planned intervention at the university level for improving the level of physical activity among university students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 832-840
Author(s):  
Katti Sathaporn ◽  
Jarurin Pitanupong

Objective: To determine the level of and factors associated with empathy among medical students.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed all first- to sixth-year medical students at the Facultyof Medicines, Prince of Songkla University, at the end of the 2020 academic year. The questionnaires consisted of:1) The personal and demographic information questionnaire, 2) The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, and 3) ThaiMental Health Indicator-15. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and factors associated with empathylevel were assessed via chi-square and logistic regression analyses.Results: There were 1010 participants with response rate of 94%. Most of them were female (59%). More than half(54.9%) reported a high level of empathy. There was a statistically significant difference in empathy levels betweenpre-clinical and clinical medical students; in regards to empathy subgroups (P-value < 0.001). The assessment ofemotional states in others by demonstrating appropriate sensitivity behavior, altruism, and empathic respondingscores among the pre-clinical group were higher than those of the clinical group. Multivariate analysis indicatedthat female gender, pre-clinical training level, and minor specialty preference were factors associated with empathylevel. The protective factor that significantly improved the level of empathy was having fair to good mental health.Conclusion: More than half of the surveyed medical students reported a high level of empathy. The protective factorthat improved the level of empathy was good mental health. However, future qualitative methods, longitudinalsurveillance, or long-term follow-up designs are required to ensure the trustworthiness of these findings.


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