Study On The Correlation Between Physical Exercise And Anxiety, Deprssion Of Medical Students

Objectives:To investigate the current situation of physical exercise, anxiety, and depression of medical students, to reveal the association between the three above by appropriate statistical methods, and finally to give the best exercise prescription for keeping medical students away from anxiety and depression.Methods:With stratified cluster sampling,1333 clinical undergraduates were extracted from Fujian Medical University and Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and each of them was conducted a questionnaire survey in order to get their current situation of physical exercise, anxiety, and depression; then descriptive statistical analysis, one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA), multiple linear regression analysis, principal component regression analysis, structural equation model analysis and factorial analysis and so on were used to reveal the association between physical exercise and anxiety, depression of medical students.Results:1333 valid questionnaires were received. It was reported that 60.7% of medical students took a small amount of physical exercise,19.6% of them took a moderate amount of physical exercise, and the rest 19.7% took a large amount of physical exercise; the prevalence rates of their anxiety and depression were 17.6% and 28.8%, which were both higher than the national norms. The results of principal component regression analysis and structural equation model analysis showed that: Controlled by other relevant factors, the more physical exercise, the lower the standard scores of anxiety and depression; physical exercise impacted on medical students positively through direct or indirect paths, the total effect impacting on anxiety was-0.140, and depression was-0.155. The result of factorial analysis showed that:When exercise intensity was moderate, sustained exercise time was 20 to 30 minutes a time, and exercise frequency was above 3 times a week, the standard score of anxiety was the least (37.64 scores); when exercise intensity was moderate, sustained exercise time was above 20 to 30 minutes a time, and exercise frequency was above 3 times a week, or when exercise intensity was moderate, sustained exercise time was above 31 minutes and exercise frequency was 1 to 2 times a week, the standard score of depression was 42.00 scores or 42.64 scores (the two least standard scores), and their differences were not significant (P> 0.05).Conclusions:(1) Medical students were mainly engaged in a small amount of physical exercise, their current situation of anxiety and depression was rather bad. (2) Physical exercise can prevent or alleviate medical students'anxiety and depression; not only can it work directly, but also can indirectly. For example it can work inderectly through enhancing medical students'self-esteem, self-efficacy firstly. The positive effect of physical exercise should not be ignored. (3) In order to prevent or alleviate their anxiety and depression effectively, medical students are advised to do physical exercise according to an appropriate exercise prescription.(4) Various statistical analysis methods owned their prerequisites, so appropriate statistical methods can reveal the intrinsic association between physical exercise and anxiety, depression better; such as principal component regression analysis can resolve collinearity among variables, and finally reveal the exact effect of physical exercise on anxiety, depression; structural equation model analysis can find out paths through which physical exercise prevent or alleviate the anxiety and depression of medical students, as well as the total effect; factorial analysis can find out the best exercise prescription for keeping anxiety and depression away from medical students.