The Role of Physical and Recreational Activities in Smoking University Students

This study aimed to determine the role of physical activity and recreational activities in university students who smoke. Thirty voluntary students who do not actively do sports and smoke participated in the study. After the pre-tests, the experimental group participated in the physical training program and recreational activities 2 days a week for 8 weeks. The tests of the control group were taken and they did not participate in any activity program. Significant differences were found between the pretest and posttest values of the experimental group's body weight, fat ratio, muscle ratio, bench press, lat pull down, leg press, right balance, and left balance parameters. In the control group, significant differences were found between pretest and posttest values of fat ratio, bench press, lat pull down, cooper test, right balance, and left balance parameters. While there was no significant difference between the depression, anxiety, adjustment in life, and Fagerström nicotine addiction pre-test and post-test values of the experimental group (p > .05), a significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest values of depression levels in the control group (p < .05). When the analyses between the groups were examined, there was a statistically significant difference between the muscle ratio, bench press, lat pull down and leg press post-test values of the experimental and control groups (p < .05), while body weight, body mass index, fat ratio, Cooper test, right balance, left balance, and agility posttest values were not statistically significantly different (p > .05). It is seen that the applied training program and recreational activities provide positive improvements in physical parameters and lead to improvements in depression anxiety, adjustment in life and nicotine addiction, though not statistically significant. In order to observe meaningful developments, it is recommended to increase the duration and scope of the training program and recreational activities.

Cite this article as: Habeş Gümüş, B., Taş, M., Deveci, A., Özbey, S., Güzel Gürbüz, P., Yıldız, K., Esentaş Deveci, M., Dinç, N., Bilgin, Z., Çakıroğlu, E., Satılmış, S. E., Kıvrak, B., & Demir, A. (2023). The Role of Physical and Recreational Activities in Smoking University Students. Research in Sports Science, 13(1), 1-8.