The effect of brisk walking on perceived stress among undergraduate students

Undergraduate students globally experience stress that adversely affects their well-being and academic outcomes. While physical activity is well-established as an effective intervention to reduce stress and mitigate the risk of depression and anxiety, there is a notable lack of research examining the effect of brisk walking on stress reduction among Malaysian undergraduate students. This study aimed to examine the effects of brisk walking on perceived stress in this population. Thirty-seven students participated in a quasi-experimental design (one-group pre-test-post-test design), completing the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) before and after a brisk-walking intervention. The brisk-walking intervention consisted of 30-minute brisk walking sessions conducted twice a week over a four-week period. Results revealed a significant reduction in PSS-10 scores from pre- to post-intervention, supporting the effectiveness of brisk walking in reducing stress. These findings are consistent with previous research and suggest that structured brisk walking programmes may serve as a preventive strategy to manage stress not only among university students but also in broader populations. Future research should employ probability sampling across multiple higher education institutions to improve representativeness, use randomised controlled trial designs with larger sample sizes to strengthen causal inferences, and ensure gender-balanced recruitment to enhance generalisability.