The virtual reality aerobic exercise on the anthropometric and psychological indices of overweight female students

Virtual reality (VR) as a digital technology may affect the physical and mental performance of students.   The aim of the present study is to examine the effects of VR aerobic exercise on the physiological and psychological indicators of overweight female students. In the present study, a number of 30 overweight (body mass index (BMI) of 27±2) female students (aged 10-13 years), have been classified into three groups of aerobic exercise with VR glasses, aerobic exercise without VR glasses and control. The workout groups performed 8 weeks of aerobic exercise with and without VR glasses at home, during which time the control group did not exercise. Prior to and after the course, the students participated in pre-and post-test, which included body composition tests, waist to hip circumference to measure the anthropometric indices, and Harvard step test to measure aerobic capacity. The sport motivation and physical activity enjoyment scale were employed in order to measure the psychological indices. The present results have indicated that eight weeks of aerobic exercising with and without VR glasses significantly reduces BMI (P= 0.0001 and P= 0.005, respectively) and Heart Rate Recovery (step test) (P= 0.0001 and P= 0.003, respectively). However, the indices of enjoyment of sports activity (P= 0.0001 and P= 0.004, respectively) and sports motivation (P= 0.0001 and P= 0.001, respectively) were found to meet a sharp increase in both exercise groups.  The present achievements showed that both exercise methods lead to reduced anthropometric and improved psychological indices.