Association of Internet Supported Physical Activity with Academic Performance of Medical Students

摘要

Physical activity is known to decrease stress and improve academic performance (cognitive skills, attitudes and academic scores) in students as it increases the blood flow to the brain thereby increasing oxygenation of the neuronal tissues. This is specially applied in the students of medical universities where higher stress levels are recorded.Objective: To determine the role of internet supported physical activity in academic performance of medical students. The study design is Quasi Experimental Study conducted in a Medical University, Lahore for 6 months.Methods: A total of 100 students (age 18 – 25) were enrolled. Data were collected through pretested questionnaires and analyzed by frequency tables, cross tabulations and paired sample t-tests through SPSS version 16.Results: After the intervention was carried out, 91% of the students had noticed significant increases in their physical energy levels and stress levels were reduced in 79% of the students. A total of 52% of students lost their weight after the intervention out of which 44% had also claimed a decrease in their stress levels. Academic Performance of students was determined by the following factors; Cognitive skills and attitudes, which further included attention span(an increase of 62% was seen), memory (improvement was seen in 62% of the students) and grasp on concepts (which was increased in 77%), Class room behaviors such as class attendance (increase was seen in 59% of the students) and Academic scores (improvement was not significant (p = .612) and increase was seen only in 43% of students of which 23 were female and 20 were male students). However, the physical activity and academic performance was statistically in significant (p = 0.612).?Conclusion: The physical activity and academic performance was not found to be significant. In addition, physical activity was found to decrease stress levels and this decrease in stress was positively related to weight loss in these students.