A STUDY ON THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EXERCISE INTENSITY, EXERCISE TYPE, AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS.

OBJECTIVE

Investigating the Correlation Between Exercise Intensity, Exercise Type, and Negative Emotions Among College Students.

METHOD: A questionnaire survey was conducted among 3,810 college students in Wuhu City, Anhui Province, China, from March to May 2024. The questionnaire included information on general demographic characteristics, a physical activity type scale, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-S), and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21).

RESULTS

The detection rates of depression, anxiety, and stress among college students were 32.20%, 42.91%, and 19.92% respectively; The proportions of college students participating in only adversarial sports, only non-adversarial sports, and mixed types of sports were 17.11%, 25.07%, and 53.73% respectively. The overall physical activity levels of college students were distributed as 23.18% low, 38.48% moderate, and 38.35% high. The multivariate logistic regression adjusted model showed that adversarial sports were a protective factor against depressive mood (OR=0.632, P<0.05), while non-adversarial sports served as protective factors against depressive mood (OR=0.622), anxiety (OR=0.644), and stress (OR=0.648) (all P<0.05). Moderate-intensity exercise was a protective factor against depressive mood (OR=0.573), anxiety (OR=0.724), and stress (OR=0.569) (all P<0.05). Similarly, high-intensity exercise acted as a protective factor against depressive mood (OR=0.544), anxiety (OR=0.640), and stress (OR=0.560) (all P<0.05); Further stratified adjustment models by exercise type revealed that moderate-intensity exercise served as a protective factor against depressive mood in both adversarial sports (OR=0.579) and mixed sports (OR=0.570) (P<0.05). High-intensity exercise acted as a protective factor against depressive mood in adversarial sports (OR=0.458), non-adversarial sports (OR=0.621), and mixed sports (OR=0.576) (P<0.05). Moderate-intensity exercise served as a protective factor against anxiety in both adversarial sports (OR=0.608) and mixed sports (OR=0.701) (P<0.05). High-intensity exercise acted as a protective factor against anxiety in both adversarial sports (OR=0.630) and mixed sports (OR=0.604) (P<0.05). Moderate-intensity exercise served as a protective factor against stress emotions in adversarial sports (OR=0.381), non-adversarial sports (OR=0.617), and mixed sports (OR=0.593) (P<0.05). High-intensity exercise acted as a protective factor against stress emotions in adversarial sports (OR=0.371), non-adversarial sports (OR=0.565), and mixed sports (OR=0.597) (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Moderate-to-high intensity exercise helps alleviate depression, anxiety, and stress in both adversarial and mixed sports. Moderate-to-high intensity exercise helps reduce stress in non-adversarial sports. High-intensity exercise helps reduce depression in non-adversarial sports.