Introduction
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Aerobic exercise is any type of cardiovascular conditioning that involves oxygen. It can include activities like brisk walking, swimming, running, or cycling. You probably know it as “cardio” (Bubnis, 2018). A person’s breathing will increase during aerobic activities and these exercises helps keep a person’s heart, lungs, and circulatory system healthy (Bubnis, 2018). However, aerobic exercises are differentiated from anaerobic exercises which involve quick burst of energy and is performed at a maximum effort for a short period of time (Bubnis, 2018).
In a regular aerobic activity, a person moves large group of muscles and the body responds to compensate for the loss of metabolic chemicals. A person may notice that they’ll (1) breathe faster and deeper which maximizes the amount of oxygen in the blood, (2) increased beating of the heart which increases blood flow to the muscles and back to the lungs (Mayo Clinic, 2017). These processes will deliver oxygen to the muscles and carry waste products, such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid outside the body. As a result, the body will release endorphins, a natural painkiller that promote an increased sense of well-being (Mayo Clinic, 2017).
Aerobic exercises are good for the health regardless of age, weight or athletic ability. A person will improve strength and endurance as the body adapts. According to Mayo Clinic, there are 10 ways that aerobic activity can help a person feel better and enjoy life: (1) keep excess pounds at bay combined with healthy diet; (2) increase a person’s stamina; (3) ward off viral illness which activates the immune system in a good way and leave a person less susceptible to minor viral illnesses; (4) reduce health risks such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and likes; (5) manage chronic conditions which can help lower blood pressure and control blood sugar. According to a meta-analysis done by Hongwei Wen et al (2017), “it could be inferred that aerobic exercise training might cause a mild but significant reduction on blood pressure in essential hypertensive patients. However, more large and long-term clinical trials would be still required in the future to drive more precise conclusion.”; (6) strengthen heart which pumps blood more efficiently which in turn improves blood flow in all parts of the body; (7) keep arteries clear which boosts a person’s high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the “good cholesterol, and lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the “bad” cholesterol; (8) boosts mood which eases gloominess of depression, reduce the tension associated with anxiety and promote relaxation; (9) stay active and independent as you age, keeps muscles strong which can help maintain mobility as a person gets older; (10) live longer, studies show that people who participate in regular aerobic exercise live longer than those who don’t exercise regularly (Mayo Clinic, 2017).
Health behaviors may be affected by stress such as academic and social pressures which exceeds student’s coping limits (Nguyen-Michel et al., 2006). A systematic review done by Stults-Kolehmainen et al (2013) states that, “it is not surprising as some individuals utilize exercise to cope with stress. Preliminary evidence suggests that combining stress management programming with exercise interventions may allay stress-related reductions in PA (Physical Activity), though rigorous testing of these techniques has yet to be produced.” College students specifically are prone to these stressors which may lead to poorer habits such as poor eating habits and are less active (Wilson-Salandy et al., 2012).
Being a medical student, it may seem ironic that as a health care professional, their health is the ones being compromised in return. They spent countless nights on their studies resulting to academic stress. This study aims to compare the perceive effects of exercise to academic stress among the Allied Health (Physical Therapy, Medical Technology, and Nursing) for awareness avoiding a sedentary lifestyle.
Students of the Allied Health Sciences are deprived from performing different aerobic exercises since most of them spend 8 hours of their time delving into countless school works- reading numerous chapters of lessons, writing lengthy thesis, making reports, and understanding scientific information.
Additionally, most of the students may prefer sleeping-in than exercising to compensate for their loss of sleep and to cope up with the stressors, others will cope up with drinking alcoholic beverages instead of getting physically active. These problems will keep on piling up and leads to more poorer habits until students graduate from their respective programs.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Students of Allied Health Courses aim to analyze, study, cure, and alleviate the ailments of their patients. It is their work to do as such and to do so, they must also be healthy and strong to fend, protect and prevent themselves from future illnesses. However, students have many deadlines of school works to catch up on to, reading assignments to comprehend for the upcoming exams and various interventions to familiarize to apply to the patients. No wonder, students are prone to stress due to sleep deprivation leading to poor academic performance. Eventually, they may adapt a sedentary lifestyle due to a hectic academic schedule. On the other hand, various research studies have demonstrated effects of aerobic exercise psychologically. In this study, the researchers aim to examine whether students who exercise have perceived benefits on stress management than those who do not.
Research Questions:
1. What is the socio-demographic profile of the college students in terms of:
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Course and year level
d. Academic load
2. How does stress affect a student’s academic performance?
a. Physically (easily fatigued)
b. Mentally (constantly worrying)
c. Socially (isolates self)
3. What are the coping strategies students had resort to when it comes to stress?
4. What are the precipitating factors that trigger stress?
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
• Determine the perceived effects of exercise on stress management
• Assess whether the same theory could be applied to all students regardless of socio-economic factors (age, gender, course and year level, academic load) of every student
• Determine the impact of exercise on academic performance
• Investigate the process on how exercise will be able to produce these perceived effects
• Evaluate the stress levels and differentiate how well it will be managed between those who exercise and those who are not
• Advocate an active and healthy lifestyle of students to be able to become better health-care providers
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The Client
In an era of inevitable increase in scholastic demands, students of the Allied health courses namely, Physical Therapy, Medical Technology and Nursing, are obliged to cope with the high standards set by the university. With this, students are vulnerable to different problems such as anxiety, depression, social pressure and most especially academic stress that hinder them to indulge into exercises which could help their bodies fend off future diseases and eventually have a sedentary lifestyle.
Evidences of regular aerobic exercise has been shown to reduce self-reported depressive symptoms (most specially to the said students (Blumenthal et al., 2009; Salmon, . Exercise as per se, has been proven to increase endorphin flow promoting feelings of happiness and suppresses feelings of pain (Semeco A., 2017). This study presents exercise as an alternative to the students when it comes to stress management. Furthermore, regular exercise decreases negative affect, and increases positive affect (Arent et al., 2000; Reed & Buck, 2009; Salmon, 2001)
This study on perceiving the effects of aerobic exercise to academic stress will serve as a learning paradigm in utilizing exercise as a form of coping strategy of the said target population. Enhancing the knowledge of clients at risk about the benefits of aerobic exercises, thus alleviate academic stress.
Physical Therapy Education
Physical Therapists’ knowledge in rehabilitation has contributed to positive client outcomes through the years. Equally, therapists have an important role in client education, which includes teaching good self- rehabilitation practices. It is important to enhance client education regarding good self- rehabilitation through aerobic exercises and enriches fundamental knowledge in the appropriate interventions for stress management.
The results of this study could possibly help guide educators to gain another intervention, which may help in enhancing curricula for physical therapy school. If aerobic exercises are, indeed, done appropriately by allied health students, including physical therapy, medical technology, and nursing, then the school will know that it is necessary to discuss what aerobic exercises is and how one is able to practice it. Initiating this practice and implanting the knowledge about these while still in school will not only help the students from academic stress, but also allow the students to protect themselves from living a sedentary lifestyle and carry their learning with them and become a better licensed physical therapist.
This study on perceiving the effects of aerobic exercise to academic stress will serve as a learning paradigm in utilizing exercise as a form of coping strategy of the said target population. Exercise as per se, has been proven to increase endorphin flow promoting feelings of happiness and suppresses feelings of pain. Thus, this study presents exercise as an alternative to the students when it comes to stress management. Furthermore, various studies also report exercise in increasing the blood flow and oxygen to the brain which greatly improves brain health and memory that would be especially advantageous to students. This study then aims to improve academic competence and skills of students for their future chosen profession through exercise. Aside from these, as health care providers, this study also intends for students to have an active and healthy lifestyle benefitting not only the students but also to their future patients and the society as a whole. In general, if this study would be proven effective, this encourages the students to engage in exercise to acquire the aforementioned benefits.
Physical Therapy Profession and Practice
Physical Therapy is not merely a job, but a profession, for it is a calling that is instilled with special knowledge, competent skills, and adequate preparation for client rehabilitation. Moreover, physical therapists play a vital role in the promotion of health, which includes educating the client to develop good, healthy lifestyle through aerobic exercises to alleviate academic stress. With this study, therapists will be closer to finding out the target population for health teaching about good self-rehabilitation. Guided with the potential results of the study, therapists will be one step closer in being able to accurately pinpoint which population group is more at risk for self-rehabilitation. This can be immensely helpful since therapists may be able to recommend scheduled health teachings about good self-rehabilitation. It is imperative that therapists are knowledgeable about self-rehabilitation practices, including the optimal use of rehab interventions and the necessity of seeking timely medical advice from healthcare providers. It may be helpful to know which illness manifestations are more likely to trigger self-rehabilitation, especially in formulating health teachings on safe and effective methods of treating common ailments. This may be able to decrease risks related to inaccurate self-rehabilitation.
Other Researchers
This research is most likely one of the first few of its kind in the Philippines. This initial research on the self-rehabilitation practices and some related factors could possibly inspire many others to pursue a similar research if ever it is discovered that there is, indeed, an existing problem. Other researchers aspiring to know about self-rehabilitation exercises to alleviate academic stress with students of the Allied Health courses in the Philippines will then have an idea whether they should start with college level students or adults. In every pursuit of knowledge, there is always that important first step and the researchers believe that this research is a good example.
SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This study examines the perceived effects of exercise on academic stress among the student of Allied Health Sciences in Silliman University, Dumaguete City. This study also meant to discover whether the selected socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, course, year level and academic load are related to the stress levels of the said college students. This study also aims to find out how stress affect a student’s academic performances, the coping strategies students had to resort when it comes to stress, and lastly, the precipitating factors that trigger stress.
The research respondents for this study are the Allied Health Sciences students randomly chosen from the respective courses, who are currently enrolled in the 1st Semester of School Year 2018-2019 of Silliman University, Dumaguete City, regardless of age, gender, and year level, and have voluntarily agreed to participate in this study.
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Academic Pressure – the burden of physical or mental distress imposed by academics
• Academic Stress- the burden on one's emotional or mental well-being created by demands on school (e.g. long exams, reports) <Merriam Webster>
• Aerobic Exercise- a low to high intensity of exercise that uses the body’s oxygen to meet energy demands (e.g. walking, biking, running, jogging, hiking, dancing)
• Ailments- a bodily disorder; minor illness
• Allay- to subdue or reduce in intensity or severity <Merriam-Webster>
• Alleviate- to lessen; to get rid of; to relieve
• Allied Health- students currently enrolled in Silliman University’s Institute of Rehabilitative Sciences, Institute of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and College of Nursing
• Anaerobic Exercise – a physical exercise intense enough to cause lactate to form. It is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to promote strength, speed and power and by body builders to build muscle mass <wikipedia>
• Anxiety – apprehensive uneasiness or nervousness usually over an impending or anticipated ill <Merriam-Webster>
• Arteries – any of the tubular branching muscular- and elastic-walled vessels that carry blood from the heart through the body <merriam-webster>
• Blood Flow – the flow of blood through blood vessels around the body <google.com>
• Blood Pressure – pressure that is exerted by the blood upon the walls of the blood vessels and especially arteries and that varies with the muscular efficiency of the heart, the blood volume and viscosity, the age and health of the individual, and the state of the vascular wall <Merriam-Webster>
• Blood Sugar – the glucose in the blood
• Cardiovascular Conditioning – activities that enhance bodily function with the use of oxygen
• Circulatory Systems – the system that circulates blood and lymph through the body, consisting of the heart, blood vessels, blood, lymph, and the lymphatic vessels and glands <google.com>
• Cope – deal effectively with something difficult <google.com>
• Delve – to make a careful or detailed search for information <merriam-webster>
• Endorphin- a hormone that stimulates pain relief and in large amounts, can give relaxation
• Endurance – the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity <Merriam-Webster>
• Fend- to protect; defend; secure
• Health-Care Provider – an individual who provides preventive, curative, promotional or rehabilitative health care services in a systematic way to people, families or communities <wikipedia>
• High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) – good cholesterol <Mayo Clinic, 2017>
• Hypertension – abnormally high blood pressure and especially arterial blood pressure <pharma book>
• Lactic Acid- produced in the muscle tissues during strenuous exercise and causes muscle soreness muscle fatigue
• Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) – bad cholesterol <Mayo Clinic, 2017>
• Oxygen – sustains or fuels the body <Merriam-Webster>
• Paradigm – an outstandingly clear or typical example <Merriam-Webster>
• Perceive Effects – having awareness of the effects of exercise to academic stress
• Physical Activity – movement of body that uses energy
• Sedentary Lifestyle – not active in performing exercises
• Social Pressure – the burden of physical or mental distress imposed by society
• Socio-demographic profile – characteristics of a population
• Stamina – the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort <google.com>
• Strength -the quality or state of being strong <Merriam-Webster>
• Stress – a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation <merriam-webster>
• Systematic Review – type of literature review that uses systematic methods to collect secondary data, critically appraise research studies, and synthesize studies <wikipedia>
• Thesis – a dissertation embodying results of original research and especially substantiating a specific view; especially: one written by a candidate for an academic degree <merriam-webster>
• Viral Illnesses – diseases caused by viral infections/virus
LITERATURE CITED
• Aerobic exercise: 10 great reasons to love aerobic exercise. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/aerobic-exercise/art-20045541
• Bubnis, D., & Chertoff, J. (2018). Aerobic Exercise Examples: At Home, at the Gym, Benefits, and More. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/aerobic-exercise-examples#athome-exercises
• Nguyen-Michel, S., Unger, J., Hamilton, J., & Spruijt-Metz, D. (2006). Associations between physical activity and perceived stress/hassles in college students. Stress And Health, 22(3), 179-188. doi: 10.1002/smi.1094
• Stults-Kolehmainen, M., & Sinha, R. (2013). The Effects of Stress on Physical Activity and Exercise. Sports Medicine, 44(1), 81-121. doi: 10.1007/s40279-013-0090-5
• Wen, H., & Wang, L. (2017). Reducing effect of aerobic exercise on blood pressure of essential hypertensive patients. Medicine, 96(11), e6150. doi: 10.1097/md.0000000000006150
• Wilson-Salandy, S., & Nies, M. (2012). The Effect of Physical Activity on the Stress Management, Interpersonal Relationships, and Alcohol Consumption of College Freshmen. SAGE Open, 2(4), 215824401246497. doi: 10.1177/2158244012464975