Gustavo Puggina Rogatto

Interference of Stretching Exercise and Music on Stress Symptoms of Brazilian Pre-university Students

2405 Pre-university period is a stressful moment for Brazilian students, since they are submitted to eliminatory exams to be admitted at public and private universities. According to previous studies this condition generates increase of the number of stress symptoms that can contribute to physical and psychological disorders, such as anxiety, depression, diarrhea, sleep disturbance and muscle tension. Acute exercise decreases behavioral and physiological manifestations of the stress response. Stretching exercise can be used to treat stressed patients since it can produce relief factors. Music is also used as a therapeutic tool to treat some diseases. PURPOSE: to verify the acute effects of stretching exercise and music listening on the number of stress symptoms of pre-university Brazilian students. METHODS: Two hundred and fifty students of preparatory courses for university admission exams were separated into four experimental groups: control (C), stretching exercise without music (S), music listening (M), and stretching exercise with music (SM). The participants of S and SM groups performed active stretching exercise sessions. The participants of M and SM groups listened the same “New Age” music sequence. The total time of each