University of South Dakota USD RED Honors Thesis Theses, Dissertations, and Student Projects Fall 11-21-2019 The Effect of Exercise on College Students' Overall Health Tanner Steineke University of South Dakota Follow this and additional works at: https://red.edu/honors-thesis Part of the Movement and Mind-Body Therapies Commons, and the Sports Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Steineke, Tanner, "The Effect of Exercise on College Students' Overall Health" (2019).edu/honors-thesis/74 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Student Projects at USD RED. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Thesis by an authorized administrator of USD RED. For more information, please contact dloftus@usd. The Effect of Exercise on College Students’ Overall Health By Tanner Steineke A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the University of South Dakota Division of Kinesiology & Sport Management December 2019 i The members of the Honors Thesis Committee appointed to examine the thesis of Tanner Steineke find it satisfactory and recommend it be accepted __________________________________________ Dr.
Pickett Assistant Professor of Kinesiology & Sport Management Director of Committee _____________________________________________ Dr. Whitney Lucas-Molitor Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy _____________________________________________ Mrs. Michelle Turner Student Counselor ii ABSTRACT The Effect of Exercise on College Students’ Overall Health Tanner Steineke Director: Andrew Pickett Ph. Introduction: Many individuals are not attaining the World Health Organization and American Heart Association’s recommendations for daily physical activity.
Physical activity habits are developed during young adulthood and it is therefore important to study barriers to physical activity in college students. Objectives: Investigate the relationship between college student’s physical activity and their overall health. Methods: Data was collected by circulating an online survey to students on the University of South Dakota campus. Several survey questions were used from the SF-36 and the National College Health Assessment.
Measures included mental health, physical activity, overall health, diet, and sleep habits. Results: Results showed a positive relationship between physical activity and perceived mental and physical health. Physical activity rates declined from high school to college according to self-reported measures. Healthy eating habits were correlated with a higher rate of physical activity and perceived better health.
Sleeping habits were not found to be correlated with physical activity rates and perceived health. Conclusion: I recommend colleges provide more cost effective and accessible physical activity options for students. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….……………24 Appendices Institutional Review Board…………………………………………………….34 iv CHAPTER ONE Introduction It is widely understood that participation in exercise is essential to a healthy lifestyle. Exercise, along with healthy eating, is of the most important things a person can do to reduce the chance of illness.
Regular exercise reduces the risk of health issues such as: stroke, cancer, diabetes, liver and kidney disease, obesity, osteoporosis and brain diseases such as dementia and depression (Wilson, 2010). According to Zeblisky (2019), exercise is “a physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive for the purpose of conditioning any part of the body used to improve health and maintain fitness.” There are many ways and many places in which one can perform exercise. Individuals base their decisions to engage in a particular activity on access (the work needed to obtain the activity) and motivation (the reinforcing value of the activity) (Buckworth & Nigg, 2004). Throughout the lifespan, the recommended amount and type of exercise varies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and American Heart Association (AHA), provide some basic recommendations for the amount of exercise one should perform on a weekly basis (“American Heart Association,” n.; World Health Organization, n. Generally, for adults, these organizations recommend 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activities weekly. Moderate intensity is defined as increasing your heart rate to 60-70 percent of your maximal heart rate (i.e your age in years subtracted from 220) or 3-6 METs (ratio of your working metabolic rate to your resting metabolic rate). Vigorous activity can be described as increasing your heart rate to 70-85 percent of your maximal heart rate or greater than 6 METs (Zeblisky, 2019).
1 Determining the appropriate amount and type of physical activity for different individuals remains difficult. For example, the Office for Disease Prevention and Health promotion (ODPHP) suggests that children and adolescence should perform 60 minutes or more of physical activity every day. The 60 minutes should include aerobic activities, muscle-strengthening activities, and bone-strengthening activities. However, the ODPHP echoes the higher levels previously outlined for adults.
For additional health benefits, ODPHP recommendations suggest individuals increase their aerobic physical activity to 300 minutes per week of moderate intensity, or 150 minutes of vigorous activity. Adults should also do muscle-strengthening actives that are moderate or high intensity on 2 or more days a week. Finally, the ODPHP suggests older adults who can no longer perform 150 minutes of moderate intensity per week due to chronic illness should perform as much physical activity as conditions allow. Particular to older adults, guidelines encourage performing activities that increase balance to reduce risk of falling (“Summary 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines Health.
Thus, at each stage of life recommended level of physical activity change. There are a variety of ways to achieve these recommended levels of physical activity, including: jogging, lifting weights, going to aerobic classes, and swimming. It is important to differentiate types of activity, as many daily activities (e., walking your dog or house cleaning) are not strenuous enough to qualify as moderate intensity and, therefore, would not count towards weekly recommendations. Jogging is commonly recommended as a form of exercise due to its relatively low cost to participate and scalability (Zeblisky, 2019).
However, many communities have local facilities that provide swimming pools, weights, and other exercise equipment so one could perform a variety of exercises to reach suggested activity levels. 2 In particular, college students face a number of barriers to physical activity, including newness of their personal autonomy, time constraints, and financial limitations. Unfortunately, these factors contribute to a highly sedentary lifestyle among college students (Buckworth & Nigg, 2004). College students have a new and increased amount of responsibility for their own life decisions and health.
This is particularly true of first year students, who are moving away from home, experiencing autonomy for the first time, and must choose to engage in healthy behaviors themselves (Butler, Black, Blue, & Gretebeck, 2004). Students also have many time commitments. In order to be successful, students must spend large amounts of time completing coursework and studying (Buckworth & Nigg, 2004). According to Buckworth and Nigg’s (2004) study, college students spent 13.25 hours per week studying.
Many college students spend additional time on their computers searching the web or watching television (Buckworth & Nigg, 2004). Buckworth and Nigg’s (2004) study shows that students spent 16.52 hours per week on the computer or watching television. Such a sedentary lifestyle is unhealthy for college students and is a primary contributor to the phenomena known as the “Freshman 15.” This refers to the common weight gain students experience during the first year of college caused both by a sedentary lifestyle and increased consumption of unhealthy foods (Butler et al., 2004, Hodge, Jackson, & Sullivan, 1993). Performing exercise not only helps keep students physically fit, but it also has mental health benefits (Manley, 1997; Pascoe & Parker, 2019; Snedden et al.
Exercising allows students to release stress in a healthy way. This stress release helps keep the mind, and brain, at ease. Exercising at school and community provided gyms also provides students social interaction with similar, like-minded people. Thus, physical activity may help reduce depression and anxiety, as it gives students a group of people to talk to about issues in life.
3 It is important to examine college students’ health-related behaviors, as research suggests habits developed in early adulthood are likely to be carried on throughout the lifespan (Sallis, 2009; Stone, McKenzie, Welk, & Booth, 1998; “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Data Adolescent and School Health CDC,” 2019). These include both exercise and dietary habits. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between exercise and the physical and mental health of college students. Specifically, in this work, I first examined the impact of physical activity on the overall health of college students.
I then compared college students’ physical activity habits to their prior high school behaviors. Finally, I explored the relationship between physical activity and other healthy behaviors (i., eating a balanced diet, sufficient sleep). To achieve these purposes, I administered a survey to students at the University of South Dakota (n=91), assessing physical activity and other health related behaviors. Results of the survey are presented and discussed.
4 CHAPTER 2 Literature Review Physical Activity Impact on Health Physical activity plays a major role in a healthy lifestyle. The many benefits of physical activity are well documented; however, many Americans do not participate in sufficient exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle (Telama, Yang, Laakso, & Viikari, 1997). Evidence clearly shows that regular physical activity improves physiological and psychological health (Kilpatrick, Hebert, & Bartholomew, 2005). People of all ages, both male and female, benefit from regular activity (Manley, 1997).
The role of physical activity for the promotion of health is globally recognized (Clemente, Nikolaidis, Martins, & Mendes, 2016). Americans can substantially improve their health and quality of life by including moderate amounts of physical activity in their daily lives. Even for those who are already regularly engaging in moderate amounts of activity, additional benefits may be gained by further increases in activity level (Manley, 1997). Exercise and nutrition can be of importance in the prevention of illness and the enhancement of health (Stone et al.
Diseases that are prevented by participation in physical activity include stroke, cancer, diabetes, liver and kidney disease, osteoporosis and even brain diseases such as dementia and depression (Wilson, 2010). Significant health benefits can be obtained by including a moderate amount of physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week (Manley, 1997). Higher levels of physical activity are associated with lower mortality rates for both older and younger adults (Manley, 1997). Physical activity reduces the risk of mortality and of coronary heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes mellitus.
Physical activity also improves mental health and is important for the health of muscles, bones, and joints (Manley, 1997). Physical inactivity has been associated with the risk of several chronic diseases 5 and health conditions, especially obesity (Booth, Gordon, Carlson, & Hamilton, 2000; Buckworth & Nigg, 2004). Physical activity has a positive impact on an individual’s mental health (Snedden et al. Physical activity is often an effective universal depression intervention (Pascoe & Parker, 2019).
Regular participation in physical activity also appears to reduce depression and anxiety, improve mood, and enhance ability to perform daily tasks throughout the life span (Manley, 1997). An increasing body of evidence indicates that physical activity and exercise are effective for improving mental states and preventing mood disorders (Pascoe & Parker, 2019). Some research also suggests being physically fit helps people maintain their cognitive abilities as they age (Stone et al. During the aging process, physical activity might represent a potential treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment, helping delay the onset of neurodegenerative processes (Deslandes et al.
Exercise normalizes the brain’s stress response and biologically, exercise seems to give the body a chance to practice dealing with stress (Stone et al. Impact on Physical Health. The body responds to physical activity in ways that have important positive effects on musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, and endocrine systems (Manley, 1997). People of all ages, both male and female, undergo beneficial physiologic adaptions to physical activity (Manley, 1997).
Exercise makes human bodies stronger, because it increases the blood supply to our brains (Stone et al. Physical activity has a positive impact on autonomic regulation of the heart. With more physical activity, there was an increased heart rate variability (HRV) (Tornberg et al.