Influence of physical activity on mental performance in medical students
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Sheikh Yusuf Hosam
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Харківський національний медичний університет
Abstract
The current research proved that PA is an easy and accessible method to improve the mental performance in students, that may result in increase of their academic achievements and overall improvement of their mental health, as significant difference was determined during SCWT. Moreover, the gender difference in results was found, showing that women make more mistakes, than men. That may be explained by psychological peculiarities, as SCWT measures selective attention that is lower in women as their brain activity is aimed more at multitask performance and they pay more attention to all surrounding stimuli.
Description
According to WHO, about ¼ of all people in the world are prone to development of mental disorders sometime in their lives. Most common mental health problems are depression (affects about 300 million people globally), bipolar affective disorder (about 60 million people), schizophrenia and other psychoses (nearly 23 million people), and dementia due to various reasons (about 50 million people) (WHO, 2018). Multiple heterogeneous risk factors influencing mental health include stress level, social and cultural conditions, genetics, peculiarities of environment, fetal development, traumas, etc. (Polanczyk G.V. et al., 2015; Carragen N. et al., 2015). One of methods used to fight with changes of mental state is regular physical activity (PA) that decreases the symptoms of depression and anxiety (Rosenbaum S. et al., 2014). Furthermore, even in healthy people the mental performance might be improved by PA, as it influences activity of brain areas involved in cognitive processes (Donelly J.E., 2016). Therefore, for students who are constantly engaged in mental activity, PA might be used as a tool to improve their academic achievements and overall mental health, proving the importance of research in that field.
The aim of research was to study the influence of PA on mental performance in students.
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Citation
Sheikh Y. H. Influence of physical activity on mental performance in medical students / Y. H. Sheikh // Фізіологія – медицині, фармації та педагогіці: актуальні проблеми та сучасні досягнення : V Всеукраїнська наукова конференція студентів та молодих вчених з фізіології з міжнародною участю, Харків, 16 травня 2018 р. / ред. колегія: Д. І. Маракушин [та ін.]. – Харків, 2018. – С. 24.