Running Head: THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF AN EXERCISE PLAN 1

The Effects Exercise has on Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep in Freshman College

Students

Jonny Feinberg, Michael Geer, Ben Ingoldsby, Angy Granja, Cire Ba

E. Jobli

University of North Florida

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Introduction

Although stress can be helpful in some situations, like in the “fight or flight” response,

too much of it can cause various short-term and long-term problems. Stress usually leads to

symptoms like headaches, stomach pain, and similar problems but, if someone is stressed out too

much, chronic illness can occur (Mayo Clinic, 2018). Some examples are heart disease, diabetes,

obesity, and high blood pressure. Along with the effects of stress, it can also cause anxiety and

the relationship between these two will continue to have a negative impact on your mental and

physical health (Mayo Clinic, 2016).​ ​This proposed study will determine the effects of physical

activity and how it affects the stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep levels of college students.

There are very little studies that give a specific workout plan to reduce stress which may be the

reason why we haven’t seen lower stress levels from weightlifting programs. With that being

said, if someone receives a specific weightlifting workout plan and sticks with it, stress, anxiety,

depression, and sleep levels will see drastic changes compared to other programs in the past.

Review of Literature

Anxiety and Stress is an epidemic among college students in the United States. Fifty-six

percent of college students feel overwhelmed and anxious (Brown, 2016). At Penn State, “the

number of students in crisis coming in for help has increased sharply from 647 in the 2014–2015

academic year to 906 in the 2015-2016 academic year (Brown, 2016).” Why is the United States

seeing an increase in stress and anxiety among college students? According to Dr. Lowenthal

(2018), There are many stressors that first-year students encounter and some of these would
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include living in a new environment, being separated from family, and learning how to make

their own decisions. Learning how to manage your sleep and hygiene is also a stressor that is

encountered on a daily basis. Freshman in college experience heavier course loads than high

school which can lead to stress. Also, freshman in college have the burden of the increased

financial responsibility which will lead to stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation and possibly

depression .

Types of Stress

College students are at risk of developing stress and anxiety disorders because of

improper time management, stressful situations, and finances. Some common stressors that put

students at risk for developing stress are time stress, anticipatory stress, situational stress, and

encounter stress (Lowenthal, 2018). Time stress would be directly correlated with stress and time

management. Learning how to manage your stress and time deals with learning how to say no,

organizing your time, combining tasks, and planning ahead (Monica, 2015). Learning how to say

no deals with saying no to unimportant tasks that will hinder your personal development.

Organizing your time and planning ahead is a key factor in time and stress management and

eliminating procrastination will optimize your organization. Combining tasks deals with process

improvement. If you can perform multiple tasks at once it can save you time and eliminate future

stress. Anticipatory stress is a logical way of invoking stress to protect oneself from future

stressors (Stefano et al, 2018). The problem with anticipatory stress is stress is invoked as long as

a threat is still perceived. A perceived threat can be an exam a week away so your stress levels

will remain high until the exam is no longer seen as a threat. Situational stress deals with

everyday stressful situations (Lau, 2012). College students have a difficult time dealing with
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these everyday stressors because they are not familiar with having to avoid, adapt, or accept

these stressors. Encounter stress would be directly correlated with emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is when you have the ability to organize and control your emotions and

the emotions of others during a stressful encounter and as a first-year college student, you are

encountering stress on a daily basis (Yamani et al, 2014).

Consequences of Stress & Anxiety

Stress can have negative influences on an individual’s physical, emotional, and cognitive

health. Stress on a physical level can manifest itself through skin issues such as eczema or

psoriasis (Mayo,2018). Cardiovascular health is also impacted by stress. Stress can lead to heart

failure such as myocardial infarction. Physical stress can also lead to pain throughout the body in

places like the neck, back, and stomach. A decrease lack of sex drive, headaches and sleep issues

such as insomnia are also common side effects of stress (Langerud 2018). Stress is commonly

seen affecting the emotional health of college students. The internal or emotional effects of stress

on college students include depression, anxiety, and a decrease in cognitive learning which

means they will lose their ability to concentrate or focus properly (Ashford, 2018).

Effects of Exercise on Stress

A study conducted in 1999 consisted of nine male athletes who were placed in a

moderate workout program and an intense workout program. In the moderate workout program

the athletes were only using 70% of their one rep max and in the intense workout program, the

athletes were using 100% of their one rep max. Blood samples were taken before and after each

workout and these were used to measure hormones such as testosterone, cortisol, and multiple

other hormones (Raastad, 2000). Testosterone and cortisol levels were higher during the intense
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workout program compared to the moderate workout program but both were increased in each

program (Raastad, 2000).

A study was done to look at the impact of a physical activity program on the anxiety,

depression, occupational stress and burnout syndrome of nursing professionals (Freitas E, et al,

2014). The study conducted a pre-post intervention study on a nursing staff. The intervention

included a WPA (workplace physical activity) five days per week, lasting ten minutes, during

three consecutive months. The study then used a JSS(Job Stress Scale) which measured overall

stress levels and a “semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess the individual in health and

overall quality of life”(Freitas E, et al 2014). The results showcased 85% 18 out of 21 reported

an overall improvement in QOL(quality of life) after the intervention. This study showcases how

physical activity even involving people who work a high-stress environment can improve their

overall quality of life, which features the overall mental and physical health of the participants.

With the continuation of research, there has been evidence that physical activity is a

factor in the reduction of stress. Many studies have shown that by doing exercise over a set

amount of time, ones stress levels will decrease and anxiety goes down as well (Bardhoshi,

2016., Brown, 2016., Lavie, 2011., Stults-Kolehmainen, 2014., Shakoor, 2016). For example, a

study was executed and the results found that a 10-week, three times a week exercise plan that

consisted of cardio not only reduced stress but anxiety levels as well, along with depressive

symptoms in women whose ages ranged from 20-50 years old compared to the control group

(Shakoor et al, 2016). In another study, it showed that people 65 years and older who exercised

routinely had significantly lower stress and anxiety rates. The majority of the workouts were

mild cardio and other non-strenuous activities but, the senior citizens who stayed active were less
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prone to stress and anxiety(Bardhoshi et al, 2016). From these studies alone, there seems to be a

relationship between stress and anxiety levels lowering when various types of planned exercise

programs are presented.

Conclusion & Future Study

In conclusion, there are multiple stressors that influence one's stress and anxiety levels on

a day to day basis. With that being said, college students are at risk for many of these stressors

such as anticipatory stressors, situational stressors, and encounter stressors due to them being on

their own for the first time along with other factors as well. These stressors have lead to 56% of

college students reporting having anxiety in their first year of college in some schools (Brown,

2016).

Even though the majority of college students experience stress and anxiety, there are still

some great ways to reduce it, exercise being one. Various studies show that people who are given

an exercise program tend to have lower stress levels (Ross et al, 2010., Taylor et al, 2008.,

Bardoshi et al, 2016). This result goes across all age ranges as well as from one study which

concluded that after an exercise plan, nearly 75% of stressed participants under the age of 50

became significantly less stressed and reported very low-stress levels while 25% of people over

50 had lower stress levels as well (Bardoshi et al, 2016). In a yoga-based exercise plan, all

participants had reduced stress and anxiety levels compared to the control group (Ross et al,

2010). The reason for the drop in stress and anxiety in people who exercise regularly is that it

balances out the cortisol levels, a hormone directly related to stress. In this field of study, most of

the exercise and stress reduction experiments have revolved around cardio and yoga programs.

There has been little research done on the relationship of a weightlifting exercise plan and its
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effects on stress and anxiety and we believe the effects would be statistically significant if a

proper weightlifting program was implemented. The proposed study plans to implement a

program at the University of North Florida with freshman students to determine how exercise

will affect their stress and anxiety levels. This study will consist of two experimental groups, one

being a cardio only exercise plan and the other being a weightlifting only exercise plan. Along

with this, there will be a control group. The control group will not be receiving anything, they

will just be observed. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not a certain exercise

plan will have a positive effect on the reduction of stress and anxiety in freshman students at the

University of North Florida.

Participants

All participants in the study will consist of incoming college freshman at the University of North

Florida who are planning to live on campus. These participants will be recruited to join the study

at their freshman orientation. The participants will be split into 3 groups. There will be two

experimental groups, a cardio only exercise program group, and a weight lifting only exercise

program group. The third group will be a control group and have no intervention. The control

group consists of 60 males and 60 females. The experimental group will consist of 30 males and

30 females in the weight-lifting group and 30 males and 30 females in the cardio group as well.

In order to be included in the study participants must be freshman students and must be enrolled

in at least 12 credit hours. Once the researchers obtain a sample size of 240 participants the

recruitment period will conclude.

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Instrumentation

All three groups will be participating in a DASS-21 survey before and after the study. The

DASS-21 survey is a self-report study with 21 items and 7 subscale items that analyzes the

stress, anxiety, and depression levels in adults (Bardhoshi et al, 2016). The DASS-21 survey has

been proven as a reliable method for testing the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in young

adults (Bardhoshi et al, 2016., Norton, 2007). The results of the survey will be interpreted by

licensed professionals. All three groups will meet with licensed mental health counselors to

discuss the results of the surveys during the posttest. This will be the standard of care for our

experiment. Participants in the two experimental groups will also be required to log their hours

of sleep in an app called TimeStation. The participants will be given a 4 digit pin and will enter it

when they go to sleep and when they wake up. The researchers will be able to monitor the

participants hours sleep throughout the experiment. The dependent variables are stress, anxiety,

depression, and sleep.

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Design and Procedures

The research design for this study is a Quasi-experimental study as each participant will be

assigned to one of the two experimental groups or the control group. Once 120 females and 120

males have agreed to participate in the study we will begin our twelve-week study. The study

will be 12 weeks long with 1 week being for pretest and 1 week for posttest. The 2 experimental

groups will be assigned an exercise plan for 10 weeks. The pretest phase will begin during the

first week of the fall 2019 semester. As previously mentioned, pretesting will include both the

experimental and control group completing the DASS-21 survey. The second week of the

semester will mark the beginning of the 10-week exercise plan where participants in the

experimental groups will log whether or not they completed the assigned exercise plan. The

cardio group will complete thirty-five minutes of moderate to intense exercise for every session.

The weightlifting group will do a weightlifting program for a different assigned muscle group of

their choice each session. Each session will consist of three different workouts that target the

same muscle group and each workout must be 12-15 reps for three times(Mayo,2018). The

participants will log this data twice a week. Participants in the experimental groups will also log

their sleep schedule in the TimeStation app on Monday through Friday for 10 weeks. After the

10 week period concludes post-testing will begin. The experimental groups and control group

will take the DASS-21 survey again and will discuss the results with licensed mental health

counselors. Participants with mental health disorders will be referred to licensed physicians in

order to receive the proper care. The independent variable in this experiment is exercise.

Specifically, the aerobic and weightlifting plans that will be assigned to the participants. The
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researchers aim to see how aerobic exercises and weightlifting exercises impact stress, anxiety,

depression, and sleep in freshman college students.

Data Analysis

A Pearson product-moment correlation will be conducted to assess the relationship between the

exercise program and its effect on stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep in college students. This

correlation will show if there's a positive or inverse relationship between the independent

variable: exercise and the dependent variables: stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep.
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