Improvement of mental health and depression of college students by physical exercise

Abstract

A sizable portion of college students in China have psychological disorders, but their symptoms have not reached the diagnostic criteria for depression. This paper aims to disclose the promotional effects of physical exercises on the depression of college students. Several physical exercise experiments were carried out on 63 college students with depressive tendency. The test scores of every student were computed against the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) before the exercises and after receiving 5 weeks, 8 weeks, 11 weeks, and 14 weeks of exercise. The results show that the scores of the students had statistically significant changes through the experiments, revealing a strong correlation between physical exercise and mental health; the mental health of the individuals was enhanced through periodical exercise; female and male students experienced different degrees of mental improvement through the exercises, because many symptom indices are related to specific physical activities and gender. The research findings promote the physical exercise intervention on college students with mild depression.