EFFECT OF VIGOROUS INTENSITY AEROBIC EXERCISE REGIMEN ON PLASMA CHOLESTEROLS OF ADULTS IN BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY, MAKURDI-NIGERIA

Background:  Abnormal plasma cholesterols are major risk factors for stroke, coronary heart disease and peripheral vascular diseases globally.  Efforts are currently ongoing to come up with the best approach for health promotion and disease prevention, as well as clinical management of abnormal plasma cholesterol. Vigorous intensity aerobic exercise regimen is presently being investigated in this direction..

Methodology: This study investigated the effect of vigorous intensity aerobic exercise regimen on plasma total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol of adults in Benue State University, Makurdi. The design of the study was guided by two research questions. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted two group pretest posttest quasi experimental design. The study population comprises twenty-one (21) Benue State University staff in the experimental group, and another twenty-one (21) for the control group. The proforma used for the data collection was validated by three experts, one from Measurement and Evaluation, one from the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education and one from College of Health Sciences all in Benue State University, Makurdi. Data generated were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 25). A descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, and an inferential statistics, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Paired Samples Test were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.

Results: The findings revealed that out of the 21 participants in the two groups, 12(57.14%) were males, while 9(42.86%) were females. The age range in the control group was between 28 to 65years, while that of the experimental group was between 36-68years.  Vigorous intensity aerobic exercise regimen was found to have statistically significant effect on plasma total cholesterol (P = 0.000<0.05). Even though high density lipoprotein-cholesterol was found to be elevated by vigorous intensity aerobic exercise regimen, the level of the elevation was discovered not to be statistically significant (P = 0.110 > 0.05).

Conclusion: The study concluded that public health education experts as well as other healthcare workers should henceforth incorporate vigorous intensity aerobic exercise regimen prescription in public health awareness on health promotion and disease prevention, as well as clinical management of patients with abnormal plasma total cholesterol.