Physical Activity and Depression Among Young Adults in Islamabad: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective To determine the relationship between physical activity and depression between the two genders amongst the young adults of Islamabad. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of students who were studying in various colleges and universities of Islamabad. Students who were willing to participate in the study and who were studying in the institute for more than six months were included in the study. The data was collected through a self-reporting questionnaire and a self-constructed questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of the self-constructed questionnaire, and it was found to be 0.69. The data obtained were analyzed on IBM's Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 (IBM, Armonk, NY, US). Results Out of 298 participants, 113 (38%) were males and 185 (62%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 21.60 +/- 1.39 years. One-hundred twenty-six participants were found most likely to suffer from depression. Out of these 126 participants, 42 (33%) were females and 84 (67%) were males. Thirty-nine percent of the participants reported fatigue and inability to attend to their normal routine. Pearson correlation was calculated for the association of depression and age, and it was found to be significant (p-value less than 0.05). The correlation for depression with respect to physical activity was also found to be significant (p-value less than 0.05). Conclusions Low levels of physical activity can be a major risk factor for the development of depression and the possible exacerbation of any pre-existing mental disorder. There is a need to combat this problem to decrease the use of pharmaceutical means for curing depression.