Sports Participation to Prevent Academic Burnout among Postgraduate Life Sciences Research Students

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to better understand how sports participation might be used as a therapeutic mechanism for academic burnout by examining the relationship between participation in leisure-time sports activities and academic burnout among participants. With 215 postgraduate life sciences students from various fields across four universities, a cross-sectional survey was carried out. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (SV), the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, and demographic data were used in the data collection. The findings showed a strong association between participation in leisure-time sports with academic burnout and its components disengagement, exhaustion.
The results of the data analysis showed that participation in recreational sports had a negative relation with both the overall score of academic burnout and its subcomponent disengagement. These findings emphasize the importance of recreational sports participation in lowering academic exhaustion, especially in terms of overall academic performance and engagement. These results contribute to our understanding of the role of leisure time sports in mitigating burnout levels.