Abstract

Introduction: Determination of physical fitness index (PFI) is one of the important criteria to assess the cardiopulmonary efficiency of the subject. Medical colleges in India are stuffed with lot of academic syllabus which makes the students to lead a sedentary life, whereas physical education course includes regular physical training for students. Hence the present study was undertaken to compare the Physical Fitness Index between medical education students and physical education students. Methodology: Study was conducted on 50 healthy male medical students and 50 healthy age matched male physical education students. Physical fitness index of each subject was recorded by using Astrand-Ryhming step test (ARST). Results: The comparison of mean±1SD duration of exercise and PFI between students of ME and PE showed that the scores were more in PE students when compared to ME and all the differences were statistically highly significant. Conclusion: Hence, it can be concluded that, regular physical exercises should be a part of even medical education which not only improves physical fitness and health but also will improve their academic performance.

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