Okechukwu Kingsley Oforka^1,2, Amarachi Ejike², Samuel Ifeanyi Dibia², Abdulkareem Babatunde Taiwo³, Perpetua Chinyere Ofili², Amaka Harry Ononuju², Oliver Igwebuike Abbah², Michael Gbemisola Aina⁴

¹University of Houston, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Health and Human Performance, Houston, USA
²University of Nigeria, Faculty of Education, Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education, Enugu, Nigeria
³Lagos State University, Faculty of Education, Department of Human Kinetics, Sports and Health Education, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria
⁴University of Ilorin, Faculty of Education, Department of Human Kinetics, Ilorin, Nigeria

Attitudes Toward Exercise, Relaxation, and Sleep as Stress Management Strategies among University Undergraduates

Sport Mont 2026, 24(1), Ahead of Print | DOI: 10.26773/smj.260216

Abstract

Poorly managed stress can be detrimental to health. However, exercise, relaxation, and sleep are important strategies that can be adopted to manage stress and prevent its negative health consequences. This study investigated attitudes toward exercise, relaxation, and sleep as stress management strategies among undergraduates. A total of three hun- dred and fifty-five (355) undergraduates from the University of Nigeria participated in the cross-sectional study. The instrument used for data collection was a researcher-designed questionnaire developed based on reviewed related literature (Carver, 1997; Smith, 2002). The reliability of the instrument was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.8. The major findings showed that undergraduates of University of Nigeria Nsukka had a positive attitude (X̅ =3.43, SD=0.52) towards exercise (X̅ =0.72, SD=0.93), relaxation (X̅ =3.95, SD=0.55) and sleep (X̅ =3.47, SD=0.78) for managing stress. The results also revealed that there was no significant difference in the attitude towards exercise, relaxation and sleep based on gender (t=-1.487, P=0.138). Exercise (t=0.929, P=0.353), relaxation (t=-4.057, P=0.000) and sleep (t=-0.619, P=0.536), and age (t=1.115, P=0.326). Exercise (t=0.621, P=0.535), relaxation (t=1.414, P=0.158) and sleep (t=0.014, P=0.989). The study concluded that undergraduates have a positive attitude towards exercise, relaxation, and sleep as stress management strategies among university undergraduates. Furthermore, the study concluded that fe- males showed more favourable attitudes toward relaxation as a stress management strategy compared to males.

Keywords

health, life-style behaviours, students, health beliefs, coping mechanisms

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