HIIT Vs Snack Exercises on the Academic Stress of University Students

NCT06846918 | Not Yet Recruiting DMC

• 2 other identifiers: 07-2025-ID DIUMCEDIUMCE 07-2025-ID
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 36
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Mental health among Chilean university students has steadily deteriorated since 2020. One of the factors associated with mental health is the academic workload that comes with transitioning from high school to higher education, which may lead to an increase in stress levels due to university life referred to as academic stress. Academic stress has been linked to multiple negative outcomes in university students, such as a lower quality of life, as well as cardiovascular risk markers, including body composition (e.g., higher fat percentage), muscle function, aerobic capacity, and physical activity levels. Academic stress affecting more than 50% of university students represents a health issue that needs to be addressed, not only because it can lead to chronic stress, but also because it increases cardiovascular risk in a Chilean population where more than 10,000,000 people are overweight, obese, or have insufficient physical activity levels. Academic stress and its associated complications represent a prevalent health issue among university students. It is essential to implement interventions that help reduce academic stress while also counteracting its negative effects on quality of life, body composition, muscle function, aerobic capacity, and physical activity levels. Cost-effective tools, both in terms of financial resources and time, are needed. From this perspective, physical exercise meets both requirements, as it is inexpensive to implement and there are various protocols such as high-intensity interval training and "exercise snacks" that can require less than 40 minutes per week while providing beneficial effects on academic stress, body composition muscle function, aerobic capacity, and physical activity levels in university students. Expanding the body of evidence on these different training protocols would allow us to address multiple issues simultaneously. The primary one is academic stress and its related consequences, but also to generate new evidence on aspects not yet covered in the current literature, such as the impact on university students' quality of life, and to provide an accessible treatment tool for the future. Importantly, implementing these short-duration programs would also enable students to maintain their academic responsibilities, as the proposed protocols require no more than 40 minutes per week (\<10 minutes per day). Finally, these programs could be implemented within university facilities, which, in the long term, could become a permanent tool for improving students' university experience.

Conditions

Mental Health; Mental Health Care; Physical Inactivity; Sedentary Behaviors; Cardiovascular Health

Keywords

High-intensity Interval Training; Snack Exercises; Academic Stress; Mental Health Well-being

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Academic Stress Levels

  It will be measured using the SISCO II questionnaire, validated in the Chilean population, with items rated on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. The questionnaire consists of five dimensions: stressors, physical and psychological reactions, social behavior reactions, coping strategies, and total reaction.

  T0 (before the training protocol) and T12 (after 12 weeks of training).

Secondary Outcomes (16)

• Quality of Life Levels

  T0 (before the training protocol) and T12 (after 12 weeks of training).

• Physical Activity Levels

  T0 (before the training protocol) and T12 (after 12 weeks of training).

• Sedentary Behaviour Levels

  T0 (before the training protocol) and T12 (after 12 weeks of training)

• Upper Body Muscle Strength

  T0 (before the training protocol) and T12 (after 12 weeks of training)

• Lower Body Muscle Strength

  T0 (before the training protocol) and T12 (after 12 weeks of training)

Study Arms (3)

High-intensity Interval Training Group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: High-Intensity Interval Training

Snack Exercises Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Exercise Snacks Protocol

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

High-Intensity Interval Training BEHAVIORAL

The high-intensity interval training (HIIT) protocol will run for 12 weeks, with two weekly sessions, totaling 24 sessions. Each 20-minute session will follow a group-based circuit format with functional exercises (e.g., jogging, jumping jacks, step-ups). High-intensity phases will be performed at maximum effort, while moderate-intensity phases will be maintained at a Borg scale rating of 4-6. Training will amount to 40 minutes per week. The intensity ratio will progress over time: * Weeks 1-4: 15 sec high / 60 sec moderate (1:4) * Weeks 5-8: 15 sec high / 45 sec moderate (1:3) * Weeks 9-12: 15 sec high / 30 sec moderate (1:2) * Weeks 13-16: 15 sec high / 15 sec moderate (1:1) This progressive structure ensures gradual adaptation while maximizing effectiveness.

High-intensity Interval Training Group

Exercise Snacks Protocol BEHAVIORAL

The exercise snack protocol will last for 12 weeks, with sessions held twice a week, totaling 24 sessions. The exercise snacks will amount to 40 minutes per week, divided across the five weekdays. Participants will be required to perform 4 minutes of functional exercises (e.g., jogging in place, jumping jacks in place, modified burpees in place, etc.) in both the morning (AM) and evening (PM), completing a total of 8 minutes per day. The exercises must be performed at high intensity, with a score of \>8 on a modified Borg scale.

Snack Exercises Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 30 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• University students from the 1st to 4th year at the Metropolitan University of Education Sciences and Silva-Henriquez Catholic University

You may not qualify if:

• High level of physical activity classification in the GPAQ questionnaire.
• Musculoskeletal conditions that prevent normal physical activity.
• Cardiac disease that contraindicates high-intensity exercise.
• Diagnosed mental health condition.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educacion: lead

Study Sites (1)

Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación

Metropolitana, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Psychological Well-Being; Sedentary Behavior

Interventions

High-Intensity Interval Training

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Personal Satisfaction; Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Physical Conditioning, Human; Exercise; Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Central Study Contacts

Mauricio Inostroza Mauricio Inostroza Mondaca, PhD (c), MSc.

CONTACT

+56958483594; mauricio.inostroza@umce.cl

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: CARE PROVIDER, INVESTIGATOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 20, 2025
• First Posted: February 26, 2025
• Study Start: April 15, 2025
• Primary Completion: July 15, 2025
• Study Completion: December 15, 2025
• Last Updated: February 28, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share

Locations

CL (1)