Nausharwan Butt, Nimrah Bader, Marium N Khan, Ahreen Allana, Ahmer Ashraf, Danial Siddiqui, Maria H Baig, Aamer Mahmood, Arhama Malik, Imran S Khalek, Sarah Saleem.
The effect of physical activity on stress levels of medical students: a cross-sectional analysis.
Pak J Surg Med Nov ;1(2):100-5.

Background: Medical students are well known to work long hours, have financial difficulties, and face intense competition to succeed which may predispose them to significant psychological stress. Physical Activity may provide relief to stress in this population. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of physical activity on the reduction of stress in medical students in a developing country. Methods: Between April and May 2015, medical students at a private medical college within Karachi, Pakistan participated in a cross-sectional study to evaluate physical activity and stress levels. Questionnaires were distributed to all medical students by convenience sampling. A three-part questionnaire was developed based on the Perceived Stress Score to evaluate for the presence of stress. Patient demographics, Perceived Stress Score, participation, and the total duration of physical activity per week were obtained. Participants were also instructed to answer questions on other activities that they may be performing with the intention to relieve stress. Results: A total of 235 participants were identified for further analysis. Based upon the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), 30.3% of the medical students were found to have evidence of the stress with a mean PSS score of 16.95 +- 5.72. Participation in physical activity was found to cause a reduction in stress levels with medical students not reporting exercise is twice as likely to be stressed (OR 0.48, p = 0.015). In addition, the total duration of physical activity per week (>4 vs <2) was seen to be independently related to reduced PSS score (16.2 vs 18.2, p=0.028). Conclusion: Both participation and longer duration of physical activity per week are associated with a significant reduction in stress levels within medical students.

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