Physical activity represents the key to a strong and resilient body. A rationally organized regime of physical activity has a number of positive effects on all systems of the body, both at the physical level and at the psychological level.

To determine the influence of fitness programs on the physical and psychological state, level and lifestyle, as well as to study the subjective attitude of people to their own psychophysical state and physical condition, an online sociological survey was conducted. The results of the sociological research made it possible to state the positive influence of fitness for the formation of the psychophysical stability of the personality of a modern person.

Keywords: psychophysical stability, fitness

The modern way of life, with continuous technological progress, globalization, widespread mechanization of labor, environmental degradation and the pandemic that humanity has faced, negatively affects the state of the human body.¹ The negative influence of these factors leads to the development of various diseases and disorders that affect not only the human body, but also the mental state.^2,3 In this regard, we can talk about deterioration in a person’s psychophysical resilience.

Both in the scientific literature and in society, the definition of psychophysical resilience has not found its application, which causes a lack of data in this direction. However, by collecting information, psychophysical resilience can be defined as the body’s ability to maintain optimal parameters, both physiological manifestations (temperature, blood pressure, heartbeat, etc.) and mental (emotions, mood, attitude to life, self-confidence, etc.) under the influence of various stimuli, both external and internal environment.^4,5

In modern society, the problem of psychophysical resilience is quite acute. This is because of numerous environmental factors, which, in lots of ways, have a detrimental effect on humans. However, psychophysical resilience as a concept is rarely used in people’s everyday lives, and also has a lack of data in the scientific literature. This complicates not only the definition of psycho physiological resilience, but also the search for ways to maintain it.

Psychophysical resilience is the stable and proper functioning of the human body, both from a physiological and mental point of view, which guarantees a full and long life. The most used concept in this regard is health, which reflects the overall well-being of a person from a physical, mental and social point of view.⁶

With the help of the state, the media, society and various industries, such as the fitness industry, the importance of health is constantly emphasized and ways to improve and maintain it are proposed. The most important and controllable factor is a person’s lifestyle, by adjusting which one can significantly improve health and also the quality of life. Lifestyle, in turn, includes compliance with work and rest regimes, nutrition, physical activity and personal hygiene.

Physical activity represents the key to a strong and resilient body. A rationally organized regime of physical activity has a number of positive effects on all systems of the body, both at the physical level and at the psychological level.^7–9

At the global level, the fitness system can be called the most popular way to organize a motor regimen for most people. Being very diverse, fitness allows you to choose for each person an individual program of physical activity that would satisfy not only his needs, but also bring pleasure.

The current conditions of the modern world require finding ways to improve and maintain a person’s psychophysical resilience.

The purpose of the study

To identify fitness programs aimed at developing or maintaining the psychophysical resilience of a person’s personality. In accordance with the goal, the following research objectives were identified: to study the problems of psychophysical preparedness of the personality of a modern person, issues of maintaining psychophysical resilience; analyze the theory and methodology of fitness, recreational physical culture; organize and conduct sociological research on the problems of psychophysical resilience of modern people; identify and justify fitness programs that contribute to the formation of psychophysical stability of a human being’s personality.

The research methodology

It is presented by a number of methods: theoretical analysis and generalization of data from specialized scientific and methodological literature, analysis of the health-improving and training process of fitness classes, pedagogical observations, sociological survey, methods of mathematical statistics.

The research results and discussion

To determine the impact of fitness programs on the physical and psychological state, level and style of life, as well as to study people’s subjective attitude towards their own psychophysical state and fitness, an online sociological survey was conducted, in which participated 94 people aged from 15 to 50+ years, of which 92 women and 2 men, representatives of 6 countries: the Republic of Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, the Republic of Belarus, Poland. However, the majority of respondents (51%) consisted of people aged 15 to 20 years, since the survey was conducted in a number of communities where the younger generation predominates. The second largest age category, 20-25 years old, makes up 34%. Other age groups were noted to a lesser extent.

The questionnaire included 29 questions to determine a number of provisions: general attitude to the concept of psychophysical state; assessment of the physical and psychological state of respondents; attitude towards one’s own health and fitness activity; the place of physical activity in the lives of respondents; willingness to engage in fitness to get improved your condition.

Speaking about the type of activity, the answers directly depended on the age of the respondents. In this context, it is not surprising that “study” as a type of activity is the predominant answer (69%), 15% noted their professional activity, and 10% of the answers were for combining work with study.

When asked about respondents’ awareness of the concept of psychophysical resilience, 73% of respondents gave a negative answer and only 27% answered “yes”. This fact indicates that the concept of psychophysical resilience is not discussed in the everyday environment of a person, because of, in our opinion, not being relevant for researchers in various fields of science.

Questions about the concept of health are closely related to psychophysical resilience. The majority of respondents, (58%), who responded, described health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, which is consistent with the modern definition of health (Figure 1). This indicates that this definition is quite widespread, and also suggests the personal interest of respondents in this issue.

Figure 1 What, in your opinion, does the concept of “health” mean?

Respondents are also aware of the mental and psychological components of health. The majority of respondents (53.2%) correctly noted the difference between these concepts. They characterized mental health as the proper functioning of the human psyche and mental processes. Psychological health refers to a person’s sense of self in the world, society, adequate behavior and reactions. This suggests that people are to a certain extent aware not only of health, but also of the difference between mental and psychological health, which is significant for our study.

The respondents’ self-assessment of their health, on a scale from 0 to 10, is as follows: a larger percentage of respondents gave a rating of “8” (20.2%), which represents the leading indicator. In second place is the rating indicator “7” – 19.1% of respondents. Third place was shared by the answers of respondents who rated their health as “6” – 14.9% and “5” – 16% (Figure 2). Based on the given answers, we can conclude that the surveyed contingent of people mostly assesses their health as 8-7, which can be classified as a healthy person who has only minor deviations.

Figure 2 Based on your own feelings, assess the state of your health.

Also, respondents were asked to evaluate their psychological well-being at the moment. In general, we can conclude that in assessing the psychological state, average indicators prevail, from 5 to 7, which is 41.5% of all respondents; at the same time, 30.1% of respondents indicated their psychological well-being at a low level, from 0 to 4; and only 27.7% of participants in the sociological survey rated their inner state as 8-10 points (Figure 3).

Figure 3 How do you assess your psychological state at the moment?

When asked about knowledge of the beneficial effects of physical activity on the physical components of health, the answers were mostly positive (91%) and only a small part of respondents (7%) gave a negative answer.

Regarding the positive impact of physical activity on psychological health, 82% of respondents have answered “yes” and only 12% of them gave a negative answer.

Among the types of physical activity that respondents engage in, the most popular are walking and running (35.1%), in second place is dancing (25.5%), and in third place are various sports (18.1%). The answers to the other proposed categories were distributed to a lesser extent as it follows (Figure 4).

Figure 4 Do you practice any type of physical activity?

The level of physical activity of respondents can be described as quite average and below average. The leading indicators in this regard are: 23.4% of respondents rated their level of physical activity as “5” points, 20.2% of respondents gave a “3” rating, and the answers were equally distributed between “4” and “6” – 10.6% for each option (Figure 5). The results obtained indicate a serious lack of physical activity among respondents.

Figure 5 On a scale from 0 to 10, rate your level of physical activity.

Continuing the topic of the influence of physical activity on the psychological state, it was interesting to know whether respondents noticed the beneficial effects of physical exercise. A larger percentage of respondents (54%) gave a positive answer, while 28% found it difficult to answer, and 18% answered “no”, which, in our opinion, can be justified by the frivolous attitude towards the classes of either the respondent himself or his coach.

The respondents described the influence of physical activity on their own psychological state as various sensations and emotions with a positive and motivating predominance: lightness, switching attention from worries and depressing thoughts, pride and satisfaction, a surge of strength (Figure 6). However, 34 out of 94 respondents missed this question or chose not to answer it.

Figure 6 The influence of physical activity on the well-being of respondents.

The most common effect of physical activity among respondents was distraction from thoughts and experiences (29.6%). Physical activity, which requires the ability to concentrate one’s attention on the correct and safe technique of performing exercises, has the role of a distracting factor. Also, respondents noted a feeling of lightness (25.9%) and a surge of energy (20.3%). These conditions are explained by the fact that physical activity stimulates the production of endorphins, which naturally cause a state of elation, happiness, satisfaction and increased motivation. 13% highlighted a feeling of pride and self-satisfaction, which has a beneficial effect on a person’s overall self-esteem. And to a lesser extent (11%) respondents experienced only fatigue as a result of physical activity. This may be a consequence of an inappropriate training program, a weakened state of the body at the time of the survey, as well as a negative attitude towards physical activity in general.

The conducted research made it possible to identify the current stage of development of science in the field of psychophysical stability, as well as people’s attitude towards their own psychophysical stability and the role of physical activity in its maintenance.

Problems of human psychophysical preparedness are not widely represented in the specialized literature. However, these issues can be traced in materials on recreational physical culture and fitness in general.

And even if the concept of psychophysical resilience is not widely used in everyday life, the respondents participating in the sociological survey quite correctly assumed its definition. In addition, we can note the respondents’ awareness of health, its essence and components, especially mental and psychological. Continuing the topic of health, it should be noted that respondents are attentive to the state of their health, which is not tantamount to neglect, but definitely requires more attention. However, respondents' assessment of their own health is quite high.

Also, it can be observed an insufficient attention of respondents to physical activity not only to improve the psychological state, but also in general, which is a very common problem in modern society. However, many have noted from their own experience the beneficial effects of physical activity on their psychological state and have shown interest in understanding exactly how physical activity affects their body, both mentally and physically.

The results obtained give the opportunity to continue research in this direction in order to raise people's awareness of psychophysical resilience and the importance of health in the future, to draw people's attention to the psychological component of health and to convince people of the effectiveness of physical activity as a means of improving the psychological state and psychophysical state in general.

None.

The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

1. Ivanova SS, Stafeeva AV. Content aspects of physical, mental and social health and the possibility of forming their harmonious relationship. Fundamental Research. 2014;11(2):2729–2733.
2. Stanton R, Happell B, Reaburn P. The mental health benefits of regular physical activity, and its role in preventing future depressive illness. Nursing: Research and Reviews. 2014;4:45–53.
3. Peluso MAM, Guerra de Andrade LHS. Physical activity and mental health: the association between exercise and mood. Clinics. 2005;60(1):61–70.
4. Drobinskaya AO. Anatomy and developmental physiology: a textbook for bachelors. Moscow, Russia: Yurayt Publishing House; 2014.
5. Kazankov V. Psychology of sustainability. Ekaterinburg, Russia: Ridero Publishing House; 2019.
6. Constitution of the world health organization – basic documents, forty-fifth edition, supplement. World Health Organization, 2006.
7. Dimeo F, Bauer M, Varahram I, et al. Benefits from aerobic exercise in patients with major depression: a pilot study. British journal of sports medicine. 2001;35(2):114––117.
8. Guszkowska M. Effects of exercise on anxiety, depression and mood. Psychiatria polska. 2004;38(4):611–620.
9. Morgan WP. Affective beneficence of vigorous physical activity. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1985;17(1):94–100.