The Effect of 12 Weeks of Aerobic Exercise on Anxiety and Happiness of Female High School Students

Background and Objectives: One of the most important factors in mental health is cultivating happiness and reducing anxiety in students. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise on anxiety and happiness of female high school students.

Material and Methods: The present study was a quasi-experimental study and was performed as a pretest-posttest with a control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all female high school students in Urmia city of Iran, of whom 40 vulentiarly agreed to participate in the study and were randomly divided into two groups of 20 experimental and control. For the experimental group, aerobic exercises were performed for 12 weeks, three sessions per week and and each session takes 45 to 60 minutes. The Oxford Happiness and Spielberger Anxiety Questionnaire were used in this study. Data analysis was performed by analysis of covariance using spss22 software.

Results: The results showed a significant effect of aerobic exercise on promoting happiness variables and reducing anxiety in students (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Aerobic exercise improves students' cognitive functions, so using this approach has been recommended in order to promote students' mental health.