Subjective wellbeing among university students & physical activity patterns

Abstract

Introduction: Physical activity improves people's physical health by enhancing functional capacity, decreasing the risk of illness, improving body composition, and promoting weight loss. Due to their involvement in educational and co-curricular activities, university students are vulnerable to losing emphasis on maintaining healthy levels of physical activity. Prior studies have also found that physical activity has psychological benefits, such as enhanced mood and reduction in anxiety & depression. Furthermore, physical activity has a broad impact on subjective well-being. Adult physical activity levels in India have been observed to be falling in recent years. However, substantial research on university students' physical activity is lacking in the Indian context.Objectives: (1) To investigate the subjective well-being of male & female college students (2) To examine if any difference existed between college students who were involved in active exercise and those who were low in physical exercise / sedentary with respect to subjective well-being, (3) To study the relationship between physical activity & subjective wellbeing.Methodology: The sample of the present study consisted of 80 college students out of which (40M, 40 F) and 40 were indulging in high physical activity & 40 were indulging in low activity as analyzed through IPAQ. The tool used for the present study was the Subjective well-being scale (SUBI) by Nagpal & Sell (1985) for the World Health Organization. The inventory consisted of 40 items and 11 factorial dimensions and a global score. The other measure used was the International Physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) short form, consisting of 7 questions and three dimensions: highly active, moderately active & Inactive. Results: The findings suggested no significant difference in global scores of subjective well-being and its 11 dimensions between male & female students. whereas Active students showed higher levels of subjective well-being compared to those who were moderately exercising and those who were inactive. The results also indicate a strong relationship between subjective well-being and physical activity.Conclusion: These results support the notion that regular exercise increases wellbeing. It appears that even a brief bout of physical activity can lead to an improvement in subjective well-being.