Location
Hopwood Auditorium
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Start Date
4-17-2024 2:45 PM
End Date
4-17-2024 3:00 PM
College
College of Health Sciences
Department
Exercise Physiology
Keywords
Outdoor activity, mental health, physical activity, health, physical health, depression, anxiety, stress, heart rate, blood pressure, sunlight, green space
Abstract
Mental and physical health are immeasurably important aspects of our lives. Maintaining both of these is crucial for increasing both one’s quality and quantity of life [15]. Research shows that these are areas of health that Americans struggle to maintain [9,15], so any research on ways to improve them is important. This project examines the relationship between outdoor recreational activities and measures of physical and mental health. Information will be sent out to students, faculty, and staff, recruiting 75-100 individuals for testing along with a survey. One section will assess outdoor recreation activity of the subjects, which was created in part using the Oregon Outdoor Recreation Survey [7] along with researcher-created questions. This will include the types of activities, the duration and frequency at which they are performed, reason for participation, location, and more. They will also complete the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 [8] and the Generalized Self Efficacy Scale [12]. They will then schedule a time to report to Turner Gymnasium, where they will undergo physical health assessments to determine resting heart rate using a heart rate monitor, resting blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer, resting respiratory rate, BMI, and body composition via total body BAA. Based on existing research, we hypothesize that the amount of outdoor recreational activity will have a positive correlation with more favorable mental and physical health measures in students, faculty, and staff at the University of Lynchburg. This project is significant because Americans struggle to maintain physical and mental health [9,15], and understanding methods of improving these aspects of health opens up countless opportunities for informing people of ways to help themselves as well as guide future research in this field.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Sean Collins, Dr. Jill Lucas
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Relationship Between Outdoor Activity Participation and Physical and Mental Health
Hopwood Auditorium
Mental and physical health are immeasurably important aspects of our lives. Maintaining both of these is crucial for increasing both one’s quality and quantity of life [15]. Research shows that these are areas of health that Americans struggle to maintain [9,15], so any research on ways to improve them is important. This project examines the relationship between outdoor recreational activities and measures of physical and mental health. Information will be sent out to students, faculty, and staff, recruiting 75-100 individuals for testing along with a survey. One section will assess outdoor recreation activity of the subjects, which was created in part using the Oregon Outdoor Recreation Survey [7] along with researcher-created questions. This will include the types of activities, the duration and frequency at which they are performed, reason for participation, location, and more. They will also complete the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 [8] and the Generalized Self Efficacy Scale [12]. They will then schedule a time to report to Turner Gymnasium, where they will undergo physical health assessments to determine resting heart rate using a heart rate monitor, resting blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer, resting respiratory rate, BMI, and body composition via total body BAA. Based on existing research, we hypothesize that the amount of outdoor recreational activity will have a positive correlation with more favorable mental and physical health measures in students, faculty, and staff at the University of Lynchburg. This project is significant because Americans struggle to maintain physical and mental health [9,15], and understanding methods of improving these aspects of health opens up countless opportunities for informing people of ways to help themselves as well as guide future research in this field.