Effect of Regular Physical Exercise on Physical Fitness Level in Nursing Students

Cho, Young Hee

Abstract

This study was to test the relationship between regular physical exercise and physical fitness in nursing students. These subjects were 54 volunteers who agreed with intention of this study and were composed of 24 active group and 30 non-active group. The selected physical fitness tests were grip strength and back strength for measuring muscular strength, sargent jump and standing broad jump for measuring power, push-up, sit-up, and heart rate for measuring total for measuring agility, stick test and stork stand for measuring balance, and trunk flexion and trunk extension for measuring flexibility. The conclusion acquired was as follows : 1) Grip strength had significant difference between active group of 29.5+/-5.9kg and non-active group 25.4+/-7.2kg(t=2.283, p=.027), and back strength between active group of 54.1+/-13.7kg and non-active group of 44.7+/-15.7kg(t=2.310, p=.025). 2) Sargent jump was lower with non-active group(44.9+/-8.6cm) than with active group(45.3+/-8.8cm), however, was not significant(t=.182, p=.856). Standing broad jump was significantly lower with non-active group of 161.3+/-28.7cm than with active group of 191.4+/-27.0cm(t=3.939, p=.000). 3) Push-up showed significant difference between active group of 25.3+/-12.3times and non-active group of 11.5+/-5.1 times(t=5.572, p=.000), and sit-up between active group of 21.8+/-7.4times and non-active group of 17.1+/-5.8times(t=2.631, p=.011), and heart rate between active group of 110.5+/-12.8beats/min and non-active group of 121.5+/-9.5beats/min(t=-3.648, p=.001). 4) Reaction time was significantly higher with non-active group of .300+/-.051sec than with active group of .341+/-.041sec(t=-3.285, p=.002). Side step test was lower with non-active group(8.8+/-1.1times) than with active group(9.2+/-1.2times), however, was not significant(t=1.309, p=.196). 5) Stick test showed not significant difference between active group of 25.8+/-14.8sec and non-active of 30.7+/-17.9sec(t=-1.058, p=.295), and stork stand between active group of 4.5+/-3.2sec and non-active group of 3.7+/-3.5sec(t=.918, p=.363). 6) Trunk flexion came out not significant difference between active group of 14.2+/-5.0cm and non-active group of 15.8+/-7.3cm(t=-.927, p=.358), and trunk extension between active group of 67.1+/-6.5cm and non-active group of 67.3+/-6.6cm(t=-.140, p=.889). 7) Power was shown to be significantly related to total endurance(r=.717, p=.000; r-.739, p=.000). 8) Total endurance was shown to be significantly related to agility(r=-.752, p=.000; r=.684, p=.000; r=-.664, p=.000; r=.598, p=.002; r=.864, p=.000; r=-.536, p=.007). These results suggest that regular physical exercise is effective in promoting and maintaining physical fitness. As the further study, it is necessary to reinvestigate the effect with more refined design.