EFFECTS OF SHORT-BURST MODERATE-INTENSITY AEROBIC EXERCISE ON SLEEP QUALITY OF COLLEGE FRESHMEN: A MEDIATION ANALYSIS
Keywords:
Short-Burst Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Exercise, College Freshmen, Sleep Quality, Academic Stress, Mediation EffectAbstract
The subjects chosen for this study included freshmen of Gongqing College of Nanchang University. It aimed at investigating the effect of aerobic exercise intervention on improving the sleep quality of freshmen and further analyzing the partial mediating role of academic stress in this process. The pretest-posttest quasi-experiment method was used in the research, with 180 freshmen, whose characteristics were the deficiency in sleep quality and no habit of doing regular exercise, being chosen to participate in an aerobic exercise intervention lasting 8 weeks (time spent per session: 30–45 minutes, times per week: 3–5). In addition, PSQI and Academic Stress Scale were chosen for data measurement while SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive statistics, paired t-test, correlation analysis, and mediation effect test. According to the results, it could be concluded that: (1) after intervention, the sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, and daytime dysfunction of freshmen all showed a significant improvement (P<0.05); (2) there was a significant positive correlation between the exercise time, exercise intensity, exercise frequency, and the sleep quality of freshmen (P<0.05); (3) the academic stress served as a partial mediator between aerobic exercise and sleep quality.
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