Professor, Dr.Hab. V.G. Shil'ko
Dr.Med. T.A. Shil'ko
PhD E.S. Potovskaya
M.S. Lim
O.N. Krupitskaya
National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk

Keywords: stress, stress tolerance, stressors, types of physical training and sport activities.

Background. The modern academic education process is naturally associated with permanent stresses that may be viewed as bodily responses to a variety of problems in the education process complicated by the personal, social and other factors.

Objective of the study was to assess effects of different physical training and sport activities on the university students’ stress tolerance rates.

Methods and structure of the study. Subject to the sociological survey were the first-through-third-year students (n=300) of 17–20 years of age from the Department and Institute of National Research Tomsk State University. Tests under the study were performed in the following four physical training/ sport groups: body conditioning (BC), volleyball, fitness and physical therapy (PT) groups.

A questionnaire survey form of our own design offered the respondents to rate 29 stressors by their contributions (in %) to their mental discomfort. The stressors-specific data obtained were summarized and the mean arithmetic values for each of the above motor activity groups and academic years were calculated.

Study results and discussion. Having analyzed the students’ stress data related to the high-intensity intellectual activity, we found that the stress growth trend in the first and third academic years was irrespective of the physical training or sport activity group. The data differences were found only in the absolute levels by the activity groups, as follows: the 1-year students reported maximum stresses (of 91%) in the body conditioning (BC) group and the minimal stresses (50%) in the fitness groups; whilst the 3-year students ranked the BC also as the highest-stress (88%) group and volleyball as the least-stressful (67%) group.

The stress effects on the students’ nervous systems are reportedly dominated by the attention focusing problems in the academic education process associated with the permanent feeling of discomfort. Variation trends in the stress effects on the nervous system for the period of the first through third academic year were the highest in the fitness group, varying from 33% to 59%. In the other study groups, these values varied within shorter ranges for the three years.

A stressor analysis showed that the fitness group students were most of all prone to bad moods and depressions. Stressor number four rate (by contribution) was fairly high in the first three academic years, with the average rate of 50% for the stressor. The BC and PT group students were tested with the above stressor rate being on the fall from the first year (48% on average) to the third year (28%); whilst that for the volleyball group students was found to gradually grow from the first to the third year from 29% to 33% and to 47%, respectively.

Sleeping problems were rated virtually evenly by all the four physical training and sport group students, with the average rates being as follows: 34% in the BC group; 33% in the volleyball group; 35% in the fitness group; and 31% in the PT group. Our analysis of the stressor effects on the respondents’ health showed its rates varying irregularly within a wide range from the first to the third academic year irrespective of the physical training/ sport group.

The stressors are known to be of influence on the students’ behavioural models, with the effects including increased irritability, touchiness, aggression, fear and permanent anxiety. Based on the obtained survey data, we ranked by contributions the personal factors facilitating the behavioural models being changed. The highest sensitivity to the stressors was found in the students prone to irritability and touchiness, with the factor being fairly higher in all the four physical training and sport groups. Nevertheless, its extremes were far enough, with the minimum rates found in the volleyball group (34%) and the maximum ones in the fitness group (57%).

Variation patterns of the above-mentioned stressors in the first- and third-year students were also quite controversial. The irritability and touchiness rates by the third year, for instance, were found to grow almost two times in the BC group (from 27% to 50%) and volleyball group (from 21% to 40%), albeit stayed virtually the same for the three years in the fitness group (from 53 to 55%); and fell more than two times (from 65% to 31%) in the PT group.

Aggression rates were found to grow from 7% to 9% by the third year in the BC and volleyball groups and drop from 6% to 18% for the same period in the fitness and PT groups. The stressor rate appeared to depend on the concrete education course and physical training/ sport activity in the groups. The respondents from the BC and volleyball groups, for instance, showed a stable growth trend of the stressor contribution from the first to the third academic year (from 27% to 50% in the BC; and from 21% to 40% in the volleyball group); whilst the PT group was tested with the aggression rate sagging by the third year more than two times – from 65% to 31%. And only the fitness group students were tested with the rate staying virtually the same for the three years: 53%, 63% and 55%, respectively.

Behavioural aggression was found most manifested in the fitness group (25%) being associated with fear and anxiety (35%). Less aggressive were the PT group students (16%). And the volleyball group was tested as the least prone to fear and anxiety (14%). This finding may be explained by the volleyball being a team sport that naturally fosters good teamwork and confidence in the players. Students of this group were found more communicative and facing the lowest problems in the interpersonal relations (11%). The BC group students, on the contrary, reported having most serious problems in communication and interpersonal relations (22%).

Quite interesting were the data on the respondents’ workability and fatigability rates under stresses [1]. The positive effect of the physical training and sport activity on the workability and fatigability rates over the three academic years was the highest in the PT group, as 57% of the first-year PT respondents reported low workability and high fatigability in the education process, and this rate was found to drop to 45% by the third year. It comes as no surprise since most of the group students were released of the school physical education course when studied in general education schools, and it is only natural that regular physical trainings at the university helped them mitigate the negative effects of the education process stressors on the workability and fatigability rates. This finding underlines once again the need for and the highest importance of the academic physical education curricula for the professional growth of the students diagnosed with chronic diseases.

Negative effects of the educational stressors on the students subject to the survey were reported to manifest themselves in bad moods, depression (41%), sleeping problems (35%) and obsessive ideas (37%). These symptoms were found most expressed in the fitness group (38%) and less expressed in the volleyball group (33%). On the whole, the effects of the above stressors on the physical training and sport group students were rated as moderate.

It should also be mentioned that about 41% of the PT group students reported discomforts due to headaches and gastrointestinal system disorders (28%). The lowest health problems were reported by the fitness and volleyball group students in the survey [2].

Conclusion. The body conditioning (BC) and physical therapy (PT) group students were surprisingly and notably healthier in terms of the stress tolerance rates than their peers from the fitness and volleyball groups.

References

1. Shil'ko V.G., Galazhinskiy E.V., Potovskaya E.S., Shil'ko T.A. Vospitanie professional'no-znachimykh fizicheskikh kachestv dlya effektivnoy deyatel'nosti v ekstremal'nykh usloviyakh [Development of professionally significant physical qualities for efficient performance in extreme environment]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2016, no. 6, pp. 91–92.
2. Faustov A.S. Korrektsiya urovnya ekzamenatsionnogo stressa u studentov kak faktor uluchsheniya ikh zdorov'ya [Correction of examination stress level among students as a factor of their health improvement]. Zdravookhranenie Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 2001, no. 4, pp. 38–39.
3. Shcherbatykh Y.V. Vliyanie parametrov vysshey nervnoy deyatel'nosti studentov na kharakter protekaniya ekzamenatsionnogo stressa [Students' higher nervous activity characteristics andexamination stress course]. Zhurnal VND im. Pavlova, 2000, no. 6, pp. 959–965.

Corresponding author: kapil@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article presents the results of a questioning survey of the 1-3-year students of four physical training/ sport groups (body conditioning (BC), volleyball, fitness and physical therapy (PT) groups). The respondents were offered to rate the contributions (in %) of 29 stressors. The results showed that the most important educational process stressors during the students’ adaptation to the latter (irrespective of the group of physical training/ sporting activity) are haste, constant lack of time, irritability and resentment, increased distractibility, poor performance and others. The survey data analysis showed the BC and PT group students being healthier in terms of the stress tolerance rates than their peers from the fitness and volleyball groups.