Academic Stress and Physical Activity in Adolescents

Abstract

e issue of work-related mental health needs to be addressed at the school level. e aim of this study was to explore the associations between academic stress (AS) of adolescent boys and girls and their physical activity (PA) during recesses and after school and to propose measures to promote the adoption of lifelong healthy working habits. Adolescents from 16 schools in the Czech Republic and 6 schools in Poland participated in the study (187 boys and 339 girls). Monitoring of PA and cognitive stress was conducted during one school day. We used ActiTrainer accelerometers to monitor PA and physical inactivity. Data on time of PA and self-reported AS in school lessons were collected using recording sheets. We split the participants into two groups: those without a self-reported stressor and those who indicated one or more stressors. Differences in overall PA during recesses, as well as after-school PA, between boys with and without AS were not statistically significant for any PA characteristics. We observed similar results for girls. Repeated measures ANOVA confirmed that differences in PA (steps/hour) during recesses following particular lessons between participants with and without AS were not statistically significant in boys or girls (F (4,1612) � 1.83, p � 0.121 , η 2 p � 0.005). It is noteworthy that girls with AS were statistically significantly more likely to meet the 6000 steps after school time recommendation (39%) than girls without AS (18%; p < 0.001). e study did not confirm the assumption that adolescents reporting AS have less PA during recesses or even after school than adolescents without AS. However, the overall low PA of adolescents during recesses and after school highlights the need to compensate for AS by adequate PA. is is especially true for adolescents with recurrent AS in several consecutive lessons.

Physical Activity Recommendations for Segments of School Days in Adolescents: Support for Health Behavior in Secondary Schools

“…These findings emphasize the importance of increasing total recess time; however, they also show that longer recess time cannot replace students' participation in PELs, given the documented mean steps in the latter. It is encouraging that we found positive associations between meeting the PA recommendations and a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and academic stress in adolescents (27,72).…”

The trend and structure of adolescents’ weekly step count in the context of the Polish school environment

“…It is also unknown why, over the long-term, boys and girls achieved the greatest amount of PA on Friday; while the most critical day was Sunday [21,22,57]. The solution to this problem requires a deeper analysis concerning the associations between PA across different segments of the day, school programme and course load, as well as the relationship between PA and adolescents' academic stress [59].…”

Secular Trends in the Achievement of Physical Activity Guidelines: Indicator of Sustainability of Healthy Lifestyle in Czech Adolescents

“…According to Adams, Johnson, and Tudor-Locke [38], the recommendation of ≥ 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) would ideally correspond to 11,500-14,000 steps/day; therefore, the recommendation on the daily number of steps was determined identically to other research studies [21,39,40], i.e., 11,000 steps/day.…”

“…"The Lancet Commission" calls for a global solution [20]. A challenge for Czech schools is the fact that almost 25% of adolescents in secondary schools show depression symptoms and academic stress [21].…”

“…In the Czech Republic, there has also been a decrease in PA and an increase in sedentary behaviour in youths [10,28] accompanied by non-achievement of PA guidelines in the main segments of the school day, i.e., before school, during school, and after school [21,24,29]. Most adolescent girls and boys also fail to meet the recommendations on active travel on at least five or more days per week for 30 or more minutes [30].…”