The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Cognition in Kırşehir Ahi Evran University Medical Faculty Students

Abstract

Purpose: Due to the difficulty and intensity of medical school education, medical students often lead a sedentary lifestyle. As seen in different methodological studies, physical activity affects cognitive functions. Few of these studies are related to youth. Therefore, we aimed to analyze medical students physical activity and cognitive parameters and their association between each other in cross sectional study. Materials and Methods: 138 students from all classes of a medical faculty were included in the study. Medical students completed three scales. Physical activity was determined by the IPAQ-SF. Cognitive variables were measured by autonomous learning and cognitive flexibility scale. Results: The results revealed that total, vigorous and moderate physical activity differed significantly between female and male students. Similarly independence of learning was influenced by sex assigned at birth. First three years students’ cognitive flexibility scores were higher than last three year ones (p=0.001). Cognitive flexibility has decreased over the years in medicine. Conclusion: According to the correlation analysis reported in the study, there was no conclusive link between physical activity and cognitive abilities. Cognitive function studies such as autonomous learning and cognitive flexibility, whose effectiveness has not been the subject of much research in medical education and physical activities should be investigated more in future.

Keywords

• cognition
• medical students
• physical activity