Department for Social Sciences of Sport, Institute for Sport and Exercise Science, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
Department of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Institute for Sport and Exercise Science, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020 Nov 11;6(4):e20119. doi: 10.2196/20119.
Mental health is an emerging topic on university campuses, with students reporting higher levels of psychological distress than the general population of the same age. Increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary time have been proved promising measures to promote mental health in the general population. However, to derive and implement effective measures to promote mental health among university students, further exploration of the associations between physical activity, sedentary time, and perceived stress in this specific setting is needed.
This study aims to identify associations between physical activity, sedentary time, and perceived stress after controlling for sociodemographic and behavioral variables among university students in Germany. We hypothesize that perceived stress is inversely related to physical activity and positively associated with sedentary time. Furthermore, we hypothesize that combined associations of concurrently high physical activity and low sedentary time on perceived stress are stronger compared with either alone and that the association between physical activity and perceived stress depends on activity intensity.
We conducted cross-sectional analyses from a large-scale internet-based student health survey (n=4189; response rate=10.0%). Physical activity, sedentary time, and engaging in moderate and vigorous activity intensities were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form with categorization into low, intermediate, and high levels. We measured perceived stress using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (range 0-40).
The results indicate that higher physical activity and lower sedentary time are associated with reduced levels of perceived stress. Following adjustment for gender, BMI, income, fruit and vegetable intake, alcohol consumption, and sleep quality, perceived stress scores were lower for students reporting high physical activity levels and low sedentary time compared with the least active and highly sedentary students (Perceived Stress Scale -2.2, 95% CI -2.9 to -1.5, P<.001 for physical activity and -1.1, CI 95% -1.7 to -0.5, P<.001 for sedentary time). Combined associations with perceived stress revealed that students concurrently reporting high total physical activity and low sedentary time reported the lowest perceived stress scores of all possible combinations following adjustment for confounders (Perceived Stress Scale -3.5, CI 95% -4.6 to -2.5, P<.001 compared with students reporting low physical activity levels and concurrently high sedentary time). Associations between vigorous physical activities and perceived stress were not stronger compared with moderate activity intensities.
Self-reported physical activity and low sedentary time are favorably associated with perceived stress, while the intensity of physical activities seems to be of minor importance. These results help to effectively implement health-promoting measures on campus among university students through increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary time.
心理健康是大学校园的一个新兴话题，学生报告的心理困扰水平高于同年龄段的一般人群。增加身体活动和减少久坐时间已被证明是促进普通人群心理健康的有希望的措施。然而，为了在大学生群体中制定和实施促进心理健康的有效措施，需要进一步探索身体活动、久坐时间和感知压力之间的关系。
本研究旨在控制德国大学生的社会人口学和行为变量后，确定身体活动、久坐时间与感知压力之间的关系。我们假设感知压力与身体活动呈负相关，与久坐时间呈正相关。此外，我们假设同时具有较高的身体活动水平和较低的久坐时间与感知压力的综合关联比单独的关联更强，并且身体活动与感知压力之间的关联取决于活动强度。
我们对一项大规模的基于互联网的学生健康调查（n=4189；响应率=10.0%）进行了横断面分析。使用国际体力活动问卷短表评估身体活动、久坐时间和进行中高强度活动强度，分为低、中、高三个水平。使用 10 项感知压力量表（范围 0-40）测量感知压力。
结果表明，较高的身体活动和较低的久坐时间与感知压力水平降低相关。在调整性别、BMI、收入、水果和蔬菜摄入量、酒精摄入量和睡眠质量后，与最不活跃和高度久坐的学生相比，报告高身体活动水平和低久坐时间的学生感知压力评分较低（感知压力量表-2.2，95%CI-2.9 至-1.5，P<.001 用于身体活动，-1.1，CI 95%-1.7 至-0.5，P<.001 用于久坐时间）。与感知压力的综合关联表明，在校正混杂因素后，同时报告高总身体活动量和低久坐时间的学生报告的感知压力评分最低（感知压力量表-3.5，CI 95%-4.6 至-2.5，P<.001 与报告低身体活动水平且同时高久坐时间的学生相比）。剧烈身体活动与感知压力之间的关联并不强于中等强度活动。
自我报告的身体活动和低久坐时间与感知压力呈有利相关，而身体活动的强度似乎不太重要。这些结果有助于通过增加身体活动和减少久坐时间，在大学校园有效地实施促进健康的措施。
