Effect of School-based Aerobic Exercise Model on Health Fitness Medical Students

Abstract

Introduction: Most medical students have lower physical activity than non-medical. Medical students lack time to exercise due to busy academic schedules. Physical exercise maintains health and fitness and increases self-confidence as a future patient health counsellor. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on the fitness of medical students. Methods: It was an experimental analytic research using one group pretest posttest design. 25 medical students who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected as subjects. Subjects who did physical activity regularly before the exercise program, had severe fatigue during exercise and didn't follow the training program three times in a row will be excluded. The model of in-school aerobic exercise was designed to be performed in the school using a group of students adjusted to academic hours. A regular aerobic exercise was conducted for 30 minutes per session, five sessions/week for four weeks. Six minutes walking test and VO2max levels were performed twice, before and after treatment, to assess health fitness. Bivariate analysis was conducted with paired t-test. Results:The results showed that regular 30 minutes per session, five sessions/week for four weeks aerobic physical exercise positively affected health fitness. This is consistent with the improvement of VO2max. The mean VO2max before and after exercise was 18.9 ml/kg b.w/min and 20.1 ml/kg b.w/min (p=0.005). Conclusion: Our study revealed that there was an increase in VO2max after an aerobic exercise intervention in medical students (p= 0.005).