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

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

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).

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).

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.