Background/Purpose It is well understood that an obesity epidemic exists within the population of the United States. Lack of physical activity is a primary contributor to the development of this epidemic. Evidence exists that lack of physical activity among youth is also related to reduced levels of academic performance, however; this link has yet to be characterized in higher education populations. The purpose of this study was to determine if the number of days and duration of aerobic exercise were related to academic performance in a group of undergraduate college students.
Method The participants involved in this study included n=737 undergraduate college students (age: 21.2±4.7yrs, female n=233, male n= 421, freshman n=123, sophomore n=182, junior n=194, senior n=211). The participants provided written consent and were then administered the Leisure and Physical Activity Questionnaire. Nonparametric correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between the reported number of days and duration of aerobic exercise and grade point average.
Analysis/Results A positive correlation was found for both number of days of aerobic activity (rs=0.117, p=0.001) and duration of aerobic exercise (rs=0.071, p=0.030) to grade point average.
Conclusions Based upon these findings, a positive relationship has been demonstrated for aerobic exercise and grade point average among college students. It can be suggested that institutions of higher education encourage aerobic exercise among students not only for overall health and wellness, but also based upon the relationship to academic performance revealed by the present investigation.