Association Between Self-Reported Physical Activity According to National Exercise Recommendations and Mental Health of Students

Studies have repeatedly pointed to a high burden of complaints among students and have led universities to become increasingly involved in student health management, with the aims of developing health-promoting structures and individual resources in the university setting. In this regard, the physical activity and mental health of students are points of departure. Internationally, there are clear correlations between the movement behaviour of students and mental health, but so far only a few national surveys are available; which limits their transferability to the German higher education landscape. This article examines how the current exercise recommendations, consisting of aerobic physical activities, sitting time and muscle-strengthening activities are related to various indicators of mental health in the target group. In the summer semester of 2019, 4244 students took part in a university-wide survey. In addition to exercise behaviour, stress experiences were surveyed and screenings were carried out for core elements of a depressive and anxiety-related disorder as well as for psychological stress. Positive aspects of mental health were recorded via a scale for assessing student engagement. As a measure of association, adjusted odds ratios were calculated taking into account socio-demographic and behavioural confounding variables. According to the findings, all criteria of the exercise recommendations were met by 9.6% of the students. 48% of respondents experienced a high level of stress and 29% were mentally stressed. Adherence to all the criteria of the physical activity recommendations was associated with significantly lower odds for psychological stress indicators, with the strongest association being found for depressive symptoms. Student engagement was not significantly associated with achieving the physical activity recommendations. The results confirmed the high psychological stress of students and indicated the potential for optimization of physical activity promotion. Conclusively, universities should systematically and continuously analyse the study conditions and the health behaviour of students in order to derive and evaluate suitable behavioural and situation-oriented measures such as exercise -oriented teaching, campus development and expansion of the university sports programmes.