A comparative study on the mental alertness of physically active versus sedentary 1st year and 2nd year medical students of De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, Dasmarinas City, Cavite S.Y. 2016-2017

Date of Completion

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Community Medicine

Keywords

Exercise, Sedentary Behavior, Medical Students

Abstract

The study used cross sectional research design to determine and compare the mental alertness between physically active and sedentary first and second year medical students in De La Salle University Health Sciences Institute Dasmarinas City, Cavite, SY 2016-2017. Using simple random sampling, 177 first year and second year medical students were selected. A questionnaire was used to obtain the socio-demographic profile of the subjects such as age, gender and year level. Additionally, a psycho-motor Vigilance Test (PVT) was used to measure the reaction time of the subjects. Participants who had an average reaction time of less than 500 milliseconds were classified as mentally alert, while those who scored greater than or equal to 500 milliseconds were classified as not mentally alert. A prevalence ratio (PR) was computed to determine the association of mental alertness between physically active versus sedentary subjects and to establish if the age and gender of the subjects could be considered confounding variables to mental alertness. A Chi-square Test with a confidence level of 95% was performed and interpreted to determine the significance between mental alertness and physical activity. There was a significant association between the mental alertness of physically active versus sedentary first and second year medical students. Moreover, the old and young age groups were both significant, indicating that age was not a confounding variable. The male and female sexes were both significant as well, hence sex was also not a confounding variable.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS