The article highlights the level of interest and motives of students of Donetsk National Medical University in physical education and sports. A wide range of factors that hinder exercise and a healthy lifestyle have been identified. Students' health was analyzed. The obtained results prove the importance of increasing students' motivation to take physical education classes. The problem of the functioning of physical education in higher education is an integral part of the formation of the general and professional culture of the personality of the modern specialist, the system of humanistic education of students. The modern problem of building the process of physical education at the university is the formation of students' interest in the subject of "Physical Education". In physical education, the problem of motivation for exercise is still insufficiently studied, in practice there are no specific recommendations and developments. The applied (ie practical) importance of physical training of student youth for successful study and work is an integral component and essential property of physical education of each individual as a pedagogical process. The main goal of reforming the system of physical education should be to improve human health, taking into account its needs, motives, interests. Therefore, in order to implement state measures, it is necessary to find out the factors that will help increase the motivation of students to exercise and play sports. The study of students' motivation determines their attitude to the formation of their personal health in medical universities, which is largely associated with self-improvement of the individual and his recovery by increasing the level of physical activity by means of physical culture. Due to the low motivation of physical education among modern students there is a need to find ways to increase this motivation and highlight the experience of its implementation in the educational process of the medical university, which determines the relevance of our study. Based on the above, we conducted a pedagogical study. With the help of pedagogical methods of questioning and testing, the positive motivation of students to exercise was traced. The purpose of the questionnaire was to explain students' views on personal health, attitudes towards the subject of "Physical Education" and interest in innovative forms and content of physical education classes. The questionnaire also asked questions to identify students' motivations for physical education, their impact on maintaining and promoting personal health. The questionnaire contained semi-closed questions, which allowed respondents to choose from the presented answers and express their own point of view on a particular question. Based on a survey of medical students in the search phase (formative) experiment, we found that the level of positive motivation of first and second year students of medical and dental faculties of Donetsk National Medical University by means of improving personal health by means of physical education averaged 10, 11% . Yes, 60% of respondents have a high level; 36.2% - average and 3.8% of respondents have a low level of positive motivation of students to strengthen personal health by means of physical culture after the introduction of game and competitive teaching methods. The index of student satisfaction with our proposed method is 95%. Such significant changes testify to the cognitive motivation of students in medical institutions, interest in the educational process, the desire to attend academic classes and stable adaptation to the university. Thus, the formation of positive motivation in student youth to actively support personal health throughout life, through physical culture and sports is one of the ways that can to some extent ensure their healthy lifestyle.