Correlation of Mental Health and Physical Activity, A cross-sectional study among a sample in Damascus, Syria

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Mental health disorders are one of the leading causes of global health burden, and are clearly a high-cost problem on both an individual and societal scale. Hundreds of research trials have been conducted measuring the effect of physical activity on depression, anxiety, and stress, many of which suggest that exercise may have effects similar to psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of residents of Damascus, Syria. The inclusion criteria included all those who responded to the questionnaire within the time period between September and December 2023, being 18 years and older. Using the questionnaire, data was collected for 500 participants. The questionnaire consists of five sections (Demographic information and social customs; Ricci-Gagnon scale for evaluating physical activity; Questions related to sleep quality and its disorders; Patient Health Questionnaire - Depressive Disorder PHQ9; Patient Health Questionnaire - Generalized Anxiety Disorder PHQ-GAD7). The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0, using the Chi-Square test of independence, and the T test was also used. Statistical test results A study on a sample size of 500 people was conducted. 47% of the sample were male and 53% female, only 7.8% of whom suffered from chronic diseases. The largest percentage of participants in the sample recorded that their parents had a university degree, as 69.4% of the sample had a father who had a university degree, while 56% of them had a mother who had a university degree. There is an important and significant correlation between the gender of the participant and its commitment to sports, and the general psychological state, depressive symptoms, symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. There is an important and significant effect of sedentary behavior and lack of physical activity on the psychological state of participants, and depressive symptoms and their frequency, symptoms and frequency of anxiety disorders, its sleep quality. There is an important and significant effect of regular exercise on the general psychological state of participants, depressive symptoms and their frequency in participants, their quality of sleep, symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder.