a research into exercise habits of freshman students at national economics university

Not only that, but this study also wants to improve health by giving students a suitable form of exercise.. LITERATURE REVIEW...52.1Definition of physical activity...52.2Benefits of exer

National Economics University

International School of Management and Economics

A RESEARCH INTO EXERCISE HABITS OFFRESHMAN STUDENTS AT NATIONAL

ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

Student code: 10210770 Student name: Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn

Instructor : Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, MA, MSc

Ha Noi, 18th December 18, 2021

I would like to thank my family, who has given me full support during my time of writing this dissertation Their patience and detailed advice along the way have been of huge help that got me to this point, and for that, I deeply appreciated it.

After reading an article saying that Vietnamese people are among the laziest people in the world, we were curious and decided to survey to verify it Not only that, but this study also wants to improve health by giving students a suitable form of exercise But because surveying the whole country takes a lot of time and resources, we chose a group of 18 IBD students to study After comparing the data with the criteria set by WHO and experts from Vietnam, we realized that the above statement should not be accepted.

1.2Statement of the problem 4

1.3Purpose of the research 5

1.4Research questions 5

2CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1Definition of physical activity 5

2.2Benefits of exercise 6

2.3The recommended level of physical activity 6

2.4The most suitable form of exercise for students, particularly IBD students 6

3CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7

3.2Research tools: 8

3.3Data collection procedure: 8

4CHAPTER IV MAJOR FINDINGS & ANALYSIS 8

4.1the active level of IBD students 9

4.2IBD students' most preferred type of exercise 10

5CHAPTER IV RECOMMENDATIONS 11

6CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 12

8Reference 13

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION1.1 Background

People in modern civilized society with high knowledge are increasingly aware and more deeply understand about improving the quality of life through regular exercise Especially during the pandemic, people are advised to exercise regularly to improve their immune systems However, the sedentary still attract the majority of young people in Vietnam in particular and the world in general, It can be the cause of serious diseases In particular, inactivity isalso the cause of common diseases such as joint pain, stress, etc All of these can lead to poor health, mental stress, seriously affecting the quality of life The less physical activity, the more lazy people become In Vietnam, according to a survey by the Vietnam Heart Institute and the Nursing Institute in 8 provinces and cities, currently, the rate of peoplewith cardiovascular disease (age 25 and older) is 25.1%, the rate of people suffering from cardiovascular disease is 25.1%.obesity is 16.3% Besides nutrition, inactivity is one of the main causes of these two diseases and the risk of many other diseases.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Today, 30% of adults lack physical activity, Vietnam is one of the 10

most sedentary countries in the world (Thuỳ An,2019 ) Young people inVietnam are generally sedentary, focusing on working people,

adolescences and even children Since exercise contributes to an

enhancement of health in all people, we propose the research’s subject isto discover the attitude of people toward exercise habit However, withinthe limited scope of this research, we may focus only on group of subjects, those are students, primarily IBD students The raised question is which type of exercise is most suitable for the IBD students who are beginners?

1.3 Purpose of the research

Realizing how dangerous a sedentary lifestyle can be, we decided to conduct this study Firstly, we would like to know how active IBD students are The second task is to find the most suitable type of exercisefor those who are new to exercise/beginners to have them start training

2 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of physical activity

WHO defines physical activity as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that require energy expenditure Physical activity refers to all movement including during leisure time, for transport to get to and

from places, or as part of a person’s work Both moderate- and intensity physical activity improve health.

vigorous-Popular ways to be active include walking, cycling, wheeling, sports, active recreation and play, and can be done at any level of skill and for enjoyment by everybody.

Regular physical activity is proven to help prevent and manage communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and several cancers It also helps prevent hypertension, maintains healthy body weight, and can improve mental health, quality of life, and well-being ( WHO, 2020 )

non-2.2 Benefits of exercise

Physically, exercise is necessary for maintaining body shape and contributes positively to maintaining a healthy weight, building and maintaining bone density, muscle, and joint strength, mobility, promoting physiological health, reducing the risk of surgery, and strengthening the immune system Mentally, exercise increases blood and oxygen to the brain and increases brain chemicals that improve cognitive abilities such as dopamine, glutamate, and serotonin

Therefore, exercise helps to reduce stress and discomfort Not only that, but exercise also makes you more confident in your appearance and thereby more confident in front of people Exercise leaves you with more energy to stay awake, plus you'll have a better night's sleep and start your day with more energy.

2.3 The recommended level of physical activity

The question "How much is enough" can be answered depending on the exercise types and from different groups of people WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity throughout the week, or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity throughout the week, or an equivalent combination of moderate-intensity and high-intensity activity For additional health benefits, adults should increase their moderate-intensity physical activity to 300 minutes per week or equivalent Moreover, 150 minutes of moderate-

intensity, steady-state cardio per week is highly recommended for everyone For most people who have never done much cardio before, being told to do 150 minutes per week can be shocking It’s definitely way more than the zero amount of cardio most people do( Doucette, 2020 ).

2.4 The most suitable form of exercise for students, particularly IBD students

The first one on the list is calisthenics Calisthenics is strength training using bodyweight only Calisthenics can help strengthen your muscles through the anaerobic activity that uses your bodyweight minimum equipment and space On the other hand, one disadvantage of

calisthenics is the lack of increases in weight resistance( Wolfe, 2020 ) Secondly, Gym is strength training using free weights Although Gym may sound like a great idea to reach your ideal physic, it is not affordable to many students The last one we have cardio.Cardio is anything that raises your heart and breathing rates, and improves the function of your heart, lungs, and circulatory system Despite bringing health benefits like weight management, cardio makes students dampen because of the long period Besides the health benefits such as lowering blood pressure and heart rates, increasing mobility, or improving your coordination, etc, the main reason why people are attracted to martial artis self-defense skills

Like any other physical activity, martial arts pose some risk of injury which include: strains, Hyperextension of the joints, Fractures (from falling), etc (Morin, 2021)

The health benefits that sports have are similar to fitness and martial arts However, The disadvantages include acquiring injuries, the expenseof buying equipment and joining clubs the time used up practicing and traveling to matches or competitions, as well as dealing with antisocial opponents, such as bad losers ( Goodman, 2021 )

3 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.1 Participants:

The respondents to this survey are NEU IBD students, which coverthe age range between 17 and 21 The test subjects are goodrepresentatives to the young adult group and thus are a good fit for thesubject.

3.2 Research tools:

Questionnaire is sent to IBD students online.

Additionally, knowledge gleaned from other surveys, relevantrecords, and inquiries about the attitude toward exercise habit will aid ingaining additional information.

3.3 Data collection procedure:

To check if you are right that Vietnamese are the laziest people in the world, we chose a group of 18 IBD students to easily collect information In it, we asked questions to better

understand the duration of the workout To make comparisons easier, we averaged the training time of IBD students and then compared them with the standards set by the experts Not only that, to test whether the gender factor influences the decision about the favorite type of exercise, we chose half of the survey participants to be males and the rest are females Girls and then

give 3 types of exercise such as Fitness, Sports and Martial Arts for them to choose During the survey, we encountered a few problems such as the number of samples received seemed a littlelow, or we had to do research without studying probability, statistics, advanced math.

4 CHAPTER IV MAJOR FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

4.1 the active level of IBD students

To determine how active IBD students are, we ran a survey on how oftenthey exercise which was measured by the number of days in a week andthe duration of each exercise session By taking the total exercise day ofeach candidate, multiplying with the duration of each exercise sessionand then dividing them into the number of candidates who took the

survey, we now have the average amount of exercise of an IBD studentin one week The 18 to 20-year-old age range is merged with the 17-year-old age range because the candidates who filled the survey all arecollege students The data from the survey shows IBD students meet thecriteria in terms of doing enough exercise On average, IBD studentsexercise for approximately 5 days a week and spend 58 minutes on eachexercise session, so that would be 290 minutes a week or 41,4 minutes aday According to WHO, adults aged 18-64 years should do either 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, or 75–150minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an equivalentcombination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout theweek It can be seen that this particular group of IBD students satisfiesthe criteria that WHO mentioned In VietNam, Doctor Tran Khanh Van,Deputy Head of Department of Micronutrients, Institute of Nutritionadvises exercising 1-2 hours a day ( Thuỳ An, 2019 ) On the report tothe Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, students are encouraged tospend 2-3 hours a week or 120 - 180 minutes a week to participate inextracurricular sports activities in clubs, sports classes ( Bộ Văn Hoá,Thể Thao và Du Lịch,2014 ) So according to the Vietnamese specialists,the IBD participants have exercised enough Taking deeper analysis, 7out of 18 or 39% of IBD participants exercise every day while there isonly 1 student who has never exercised before Moreover, the percentageof students who exercise 1 to 2 days a week is equal to the total

percentage of students who exercise 3 to 4 days and 5 to 6 days a week,which stand at 27,8%, 11,1%, and 16,6% respectively Besides that, 39%of the participants spend 30 minutes on each of their exercises session,while 28% and 33% of them spend 90 minutes and 60 minutesrespectively on each session Therefore, it can be seen that students aremindful of the benefits of exercise, so they are aware of self-disciplineas well as taking time to exercise.

4.2 IBD students' most preferred type of exercise

This section answers the question of which type of exercise is preferredfrom an IBD student's perspective To decide whether gender is relatedto the option of exercise, we conducted a survey in which half of theparticipants were male and the other half were female Overall, 72,2% ofIBD students preferred Fitness, 16,6% preferred Sport, the percentage ofthe participant who chose martial art is equal to the one who didn't havea preferable type of exercise at 5,6% Compare to the Survey conductedby Q&Me in May 2021 about understanding more about the exercisebehavior of Vietnamese people, we have found out the outcome issimilar to mine The three main forms of practice are Fitness, sports, andmartial arts Fitness is the most popular form with 85%, sports is secondwith 37%, and martial arts with 11% ( Minh Châu,2021 ) Taking acloser look into the IBD survey, the data shows all females chose fitness

as their favorite type of exercise, 4 out of 9 males were on the same pagewith the females and also preferred fitness Besides that, 3 out of 9 malesthought sport was more suitable for them, and there was only 1 malewho did not have a preferable type of exercise as well as there was only1 male who thought martial art fitted him Understandably, femalesadore fitness more than males Scientists say that the female body tendsto accumulate more fat, not only that, this fat is more difficult to removethan the male body Specifically, the normal percentage of body fat inwomen is between 21-31%, while this percentage is only 14-25% formen ( Phạm Hằng,2020 ) The underlying reason for this is to preparefor future pregnancies To achieve low body fat and a slim physique,females are attracted to fitness It is also noticeable that only the malespicked sports and here is the explanation According to the EvolutionaryBehavioral Sciences, women's lack of participation in sports is not dueto discrimination, but because of the fact that they simply do not careabout sports ( Sputnik, 2016 )

5 CHAPTER IV RECOMMENDATIONS

Physical capacity plays a very important role in life, work, work, and study Having good physical capacity will help people overcome all difficulties and complete all jobs well If you want to have a good physical ability, you must be persistent and determined in the work of exercising your body President Ho Chi Minh himself had times of weakness, but he still tried to get up and move, practicing some gentle exercise movements.

Because physical training plays an important role in improving human health, we would like to call on IBD students to maintain the spirit of self-discipline to exercise, to improve their health, and serve them well for the learning process, contributing to the construction and defense of the country This call-out is similar to President Ho Chi Minh calling on the whole people to practice sports, exercise, only healthy people can participate in sports engaged in all revolutionary work.

After learning that fitness is the most popular form of exercise among IBD students, we highly recommend calisthenics With calisthenics, you can achieve a toned body like a greek god without much equipment or gym costs Just a flat surface and one pull-up bar are more than enough to start your workout Not only that, in this epidemic situation, calisthenics is a great choice because you can practice at your own home Because of the above reasons, calisthenics is the most suitable form of exercise for IBD students, especially for those who lack the timeor are financially unstable.

6 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION

While knowing education is every student's top goal, it shouldn't be the only thing Playing sports, exercising, and practicing martial arts not only helps improve health, lose weight, increase flexibility, but also helps reduce stress and increase confidence After analyzing the information from the survey, from meeting the fitness targets set by WHO and Vietnamese researchers, we have come to the conclusion that IBD students are quite active and have received awareness of self-exercise Furthermore, Although each form of exercise has its own advantages and disadvantages, the results show that fitness is the most preferred form of exercise, followed by sports, and finally martial arts In particular, the form of fitness attracts more males than females and sport does not receive enthusiastic support from females.