Impact of Physical Activity and Stress on Academic Performance of MBBS Students of Rawalpindi Medical University

Trend of getting medical education is increasing day by day in our society. Our tough educational system and intricate pattern of medical education is rendering the medical students to become more stressed and physically inactive affecting directly or indirectly their academic achievements and deteriorating their cognitive and learning skills. The purpose of our study is to evaluate how physical activity and stress level affect academic performance of medical students.  It is a descriptive cross-sectional study with sample size of 304. The study population was from all the five years of MBBS in Rawalpindi Medical University. The study duration was 1-month. Data collection was done through International physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) and through perceived stress scale (PSS). Analysis was done through SPSS V. 23. The gender and academic performance are showing   significant association with females being on high achievers’ side as compared to males. The physical activity and gender association was also significant with males being physically more active. However, the association of academic performance with stress level and physical activity was not significant with (P-value >0.005). PSS-score between high achiever and low achiever was not significant with (P-value = 0.187) and confidence interval of 95%. However, Pearson's correlation between IPAQ score and academic performance was significant with (P-value = 0.036), It was negative showing that high IPAQ score Correlates with low academic performance. Male students were physically more active, obtaining relatively less percentage academically with less preponderance towards high level of stress as compared to female students.