Effect of physical activity on mental wellbeing among teachers of secondary school in Almadina city, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Physical activity has many beneficial effects on mental health. Benefit of physical activity appears proportional to the amount of activity rather than the intensity of physical activity. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of physical activity on mental wellbeing of teachers of secondary school in Almadina city- 2019. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A descriptive cross sectional study was applied among a representative multi-stage random sample of secondary school teachers in Almadina. Two validated questionnaires, in addition to personal data were utilized to collect data; Short-form International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) version 2.0 to evaluate physical activity and the Warwick-Edinburg Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) to assess mental wellbeing both in Arabic language. RESULTS: The study included 230 teachers. Their age ranged between 27 and 59 years with a mean ± (SD) of 39.4 (±7.6) years. Almost half of them were males (50.4%). Most of the teachers were either overweight (30%) or obese (40.9%). Almost half of teachers (48.3%) reported moderate level of physical activity whereas only 9.1% reported high level. Low level of physical activity was mentioned by 42.6% of the respondents. There was no significant difference between male and female teachers regarding physical activity level. The association between level of physical activity and body mass index was statistically significant, P < 0.001. Majority of the teachers expressed high mental wellbeing level while only 3.5% of them had low level of mental wellbeing. High level of mental well-being was observed among 95.6% of females compared to 85.3% of males, P = 0.008. There was a statistically significant positive association between levels of physical activity and mental well-being among teachers (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Level of practicing physical activities among secondary school teachers in Almadina is suboptimal, with no gender difference. Majority of the teachers have high mental well-being, particularly females. There is a positive association between levels of physical activity and mental wellbeing among teachers.