Relationship between Exercise, Fitness, Stress, Sleep and Grades during the First Year of PT School
Purpose/Hypothesis: Physical Therapy students anecdotally complain of the deleterious physiological and psychological effects of attending Physical Therapy (PT) School. Previous research on medical students has demonstrated significant negative changes in health and physical fitness during the course of medical school. The purpose of our study was to quantify changes in anthropometric parameters, fitness levels, physical activity (PA) levels, perceived stress, sleep and quality of life in students during their first year of PT School.
Number of Subjects: The design was a prospective longitudinal cohort study utilizing 38 first year DPT students
Materials and Methods: Students were tested at the beginning and end of the first year for all fitness and anthropometric measurements. Students were also tested at the beginning and end of each of the three semesters of the first year for physical activity levels via a daily exercise log, sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), stress (Perceived Stress Scale) and quality of life (Rand).
Results: There were no significant differences for anthropometric measures and physical fitness however there were significant changes in aerobic fitness (P=0.001) between the beginning and end of the first year of PT school, with VO2 max decreasing from 40.8 to 35.5 ml/kg/min. PA levels decreased significantly when comparing the fall to the summer and winter semesters. Stress levels showed a significant increase, hours of sleep and global quality of sleep demonstrated a significant decrease throughout each semester from the beginning to the end of each of the three semesters. The quality of life questionnaire was also significant decreased in regards to the domains of energy, emotion, social functioning, and general health when comparing the beginning to the end of each semester. There were no significant correlations between PA, Stress and Grades.
Conclusions: The results concluded that DPT students experienced increased stress, decreased quality of life, sleep and aerobic fitness over the course of each semester with no correlations to GPA.
Clinical Relevance: These findings suggest that stress management courses, possible curricular changes, and wellness resources should be offered during the first year of physical therapy school.