Effects of Sustainable Exercise Habits in University Students

From Mind to Body: Evaluating the Effects of Sustainable Exercise Habits on Cognitive Awareness, Body Awareness, and Sleep Quality in University Students

This cross-sectional comparative study aims to evaluate the effects of sustainable exercise habits on cognitive awareness, body awareness, and sleep quality in university students.

The main hypotheses are:

H0: There is no difference in cognitive awareness, body awareness, and sleep quality between university students with sustainable exercise habits and those with a sedentary lifestyle.

H1: There is a difference in cognitive awareness, body awareness, and sleep quality between university students with sustainable exercise habits and those with a sedentary lifestyle.

Healthy university students aged 18-25 who meet the inclusion criteria will be included in this comparative cross-sectional study to demonstrate the effects of sustainable exercise habits on cognitive awareness, body awareness, and sleep quality.

Participants will be divided into two different groups based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) results: the Sustainable Exercise Group and the Sedentary Group. The Sustainable Exercise Group will consist of students who have been performing at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week regularly for at least the last 6 months. The Sedentary Group will include individuals with a weekly physical activity duration of less than 60 minutes or those without a regular exercise habit for the last 6 months.

No intervention or experimental procedure will be applied to the participants. All assessments will be prepared as online questionnaires and sent to the participants via Google Forms.

Before the evaluation, participants will be informed about the study and their consent will be obtained online. Following this, the participants' sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity routines, and sedentary behaviors will be questioned with a structured evaluation form. The physical activity levels, body awareness, decision-making styles, critical thinking dispositions, and sleep quality of the participants will be evaluated using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form, Body Awareness Questionnaire, Melbourne Decision Making Scale, Marmara Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Being a university student aged between 18 and 25 years
• Volunteering to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having any diagnosed psychiatric disorder
• Regularly using medications that affect sleep patterns or cognitive functions
• Having been diagnosed with a sleep disorder
• Having a history of substance or alcohol addiction
• Having had an acute illness within the last 1 month
• Having undergone surgery within the last 6 months