Introduction. The physical activity practice has benefits in humans in an integral way. The transition from adolescence to adulthood exposes human beings to different factors risk that can affect their health. For this reason, it is necessary to design strategies and lines of research to prevent and / or mitigate the negative effects of exposure to these risk factors. Objectives. The general objective of this thesis was to evaluate the effects of a physical activity program on parameters of physical health, mental health and heart rate variability in first year university students. The following specific sub-objectives have been proposed: 1) To evaluate anthropometric parameters: weight, height, BMI, ICC, ICT; waist, hip, thigh and calf circumferences; bicipital, tricipital, suprailiac, subscapular skinfolds; 2) to assess the level of physical activity; 3) to evaluate mental health parameters: anxiety, depression, stress and self-esteem, and 4) to record and analyze heart rate variability. Methodology. The study sample consisted of 106 participants (66 men and 40 women) aged between 16 and 25 years from the Francisco José de Caldas District University, in Bogotá city. A factorial design with two factors was used: gender (men, women) x intervention (control, physical activity) and four groups: control men, control women, intervention men and intervention women. The intervention lasted 8 weeks and consisted of three weekly sessions of 1-hour activity, the control groups continued with their usual daily routine. All variables were measured before and after the intervention (PRE-POST). Results. The intervention did not modify the previous differences in weight and height between men and women and between the two groups of women. There were no significant effects of the factors, nor differences between pairs of groups in BMI. The intervention did not modify the previous differences in skinfolds between men and women. Women tended to have lower values than men in the waist-hip index, women tend to have higher values than men in the waist-height index, and in none of those indices appeared any effect of the intervention. Women had higher self-esteem scores than men. The group of men increased depression and residual anxiety scores after the intervention, and women with intervention had lower anxiety scores than men with intervention. The intervention increased walking and moderate activity in men and vigorous activity in women, and increased total physical activity in both of them. The intervention decreased the minimum and mean heart rates in the group of women with intervention, and clearly increased the POST measures of HRV in its time domain and frequency domain parameters in men and women. Conclusions. Intervention with a mixed strength-resistance physical exercise program has positive effects in university students on physical health,walking and moderate physical activity in men and vigorous activity in women, in addition to increase heart rate variability in men and women as measured by time and frequency domain parameters. In this way, it is suggested that interventions through these programs are feasible to be implemented in this type of population due to their acceptance by the sample and their sustainability in relation to the costs.
EFECTOS DE UN PROGRAMA DE EJERCICIO FÍSICO SOBRE PARAMETROS DE SALUD FÍSICA, SALUD MENTAL Y VARIABILIDAD DE LA FRECUENCIA CARDIACA EN ESTUDIANTES DE PRIMER AÑO DE UNIVERSIDAD
HERRERA NIVIA, C. A. (Author). 16 Dec 2020
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis