Physical activity and subjective well-being in Health Sciences first-year students

It is evident that physical activity implies several health benefits and is considered a fundamental component for improving quality of life and well-being. The main objective of the study was to identify the relationship between students who maintain a regular physical activity practice and how this aspect contributes to their well-being, namely life satisfaction and affections. A total of 177 students of both genders, aged between 18 and 30 years, enrolled in the first year of Health Sciences College degrees participated in this research. The data collection instrument used was a questionnaire, with the Positive and Negative Affective Scale (PANAS) and the Satisfaction with Life (SWLS). In addition to descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney test was used to compare groups (83 practitioners and 94 non-practitioners). Results showed that students, who maintain practicing PA with the entrance in College had more favourable values in well-being with significant differences in terms of their satisfaction with life (p=0.04) and positive affections (p=0.01). We conclude that students from Health Sciences College degrees who maintain a constant physical activity practice present better results in the analysed variables in relation to those who stopped practicing after they start attending the first year of College.