Investigating the Relationship between the Desire for Physical Activity and the Level of Stress and Depression in Students with Neuropathic Obesity

Background & Aims: Eating disorders are one of the most common mental/psycho-physical disorders that cause many problems in physical health and cognitive functioning, and also disrupt the quality of life of the affected person and cause death. Binge eating disorder is an eating disorder that is now recognized as an official diagnosis. It affects approximately 2% of the world's population and can cause other diet-related health problems, such as high cholesterol levels and diabetes. Nutrition and eating disorders are not only related to food, that's why they are known as mental disorders. People usually use them to deal with deeper issues or other psychological conditions such as anxiety or depression. People with binge eating disorder may eat a lot of food in a short period, even if they are not hungry. Stress or emotional distress often plays a role and may cause overeating. Binge eating involves consuming large amounts of food very quickly, even when you are not hungry, and is somewhat uncomfortable. Almost everyone overeats once in a while, but it can also become a disorder. In the psychopathology of eating disorders, it has been found that people with eating disorders report more Dysregulation of emotions than healthy people. These eating disorders lead to obesity in people. A meta-analytical look at the treatments used to treat eating disorders in the last decade shows that most of the research has been focused on psychological treatments. At the same time, the level of knowledge and awareness of people regarding physical activity should also be investigated because Childhood to adolescence is one of the most sensitive and important periods of human development. Physical activity is an approach that can empower a person to improve their health status, and the culture of physical activity constitutes the consumption process of performing targeted movements to ensure and develop health and sports skills. Today, combating the problem of obesity or overweight is one of the most important goals of the medical community and those involved in health, and increasing the level of physical activity of people is known as one of the beneficial solutions to reduce the amount of obesity and related diseases among the society. Various studies show that various factors such as misleading advertisements, availability of fast and convenient foods, lifestyle and low nutritional knowledge, and physical activity have put teenagers at risk. Not having the necessary physical activity, in addition to having an inappropriate effect on the body mass index and causing the risks of diseases such as diabetes and obesity, causes a decrease in general physical fitness and a decrease in their health and hygiene. Physical activity and the desire for physical activity help people to get rid of unhealthy emotional thoughts, habits, and patterns, so they can play an important role in regulating emotions. Since culture does not determine the nature and frequency of biological stimuli such as physical activity, but it influences them, sometimes it has a significant effect on the time and sometimes on how these stimuli affect. Culture affects not only our preferences but also our decision-making methods and even our perception of the surrounding environment. There is a gap in the research done in this field (14). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between the desire for physical activity and stress and depression in neurotic obese students. Methods: This descriptive-correlation study was conducted on overweight and obese male students of the first secondary school (7th grade) in the academic year of 2020-2021 Since the disorder considered in this study were people suffering from neuropathic obesity, Gormali et al.'s (1982) binge eating questionnaire was distributed among the statistical population and after checking the scores, it was determined that 80 people had a score above the cut-off point of the scale. The number of the statistical sample was considered equal to the number of the statistical population. Then Lavibond and Lavibond's mental disorders questionnaire (1995), and Shahlai's desire for physical activity (2019) were distributed among the subjects. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression. Results: The results showed that there is a significant relationship between the desire for physical activity and the reduction of stress and depression levels. It is also possible to predict stress and depression by using a passion for physical activity. Conclusion: In general, it can be concluded that the use of physical activity in resume activities reduces the level of stress and depression in students suffering from obesity, so the use of physical activity along with the use of material and spiritual incentives reduces the level of stress. And depression becomes nervous in obese students. The current research, like any other research, has limitations that can clarify the findings and suggestions of the research and help future researchers to adopt effective measures to deal with the threat of internal and external validity of research projects. to give The fundamental limitations of the current research are as follows: the bias of people towards answering the questions of the questionnaires, which reduces the accuracy of the results to some extent, the presence of unwanted variables that affect the results of the research, and the lack of use of other research tools such as observation and interview. It has been associated with the subjects and only using the questionnaire. This research was conducted only on the population of 7th-grade male students in Qom city, and caution should be observed in generalizing the results to other regions and cities. The level of honesty of the respondents to the questions in the questionnaires is one of the uncontrollable limitations. According to the results of this study, it is suggested that at the beginning of the academic year, by referring to the students' files, identify the people who have obesity and overeating disorders, and with the cooperation of the director and vice president of education, to introduce them to sports centers and Or sports teachers should take action. Encouraging and persuading students towards physical education and sports activities (physical and mental) should be done regularly and continuously by educational coaches and parents.