The Effects of Virtual Reality Education on Balance, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Parameters in Healthy Young Individuals

If we examine the demographic data of the 2021 reports of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), we can see that the young population between the ages of 15 and 24 is 12,971,289 people, which is 15.3% of the total population. Considering the proportion of young population in our country, the evaluation of physical activity level has an important place, while the proportion of female university students who achieved sufficient physical activity level according to the scoring of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (UFAA) was 8.5%, while the proportion of male students was 28.1% in previous studies (Arslan 2015). ).

We know from previous studies that achieving an adequate level of physical activity directly reduces the body mass index and indirectly reduces the cardiovascular risk associated with obesity (Swift 2018). Exercise reduces depression levels and the effects of depression. Although the neural mechanisms are not very clear, there are some predictions for physical exercise to reduce the level of depression (Gujral 2017). The hippocampus is an important cognitive and sensory centre, and it has been reported that hippocampal volume decreases by 5% in depressed individuals (Cole 2011). Hippocampal volume has been reported to increase rapidly with exercise (Bugg 2012).

The brain region most affected in major depressive disorder is the prefrontal cortex. After the prefrontal cortex is affected, symptoms such as negative affect and learned helplessness appear (Pizagalli 2021). Experimental studies in mice have shown that treadmill training creates new synaptic pathways in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus (Mu 2022).

Another brain region affected by depression is the corpus striatum. Loss of corpus striatum volume is observed in patients with major depression (Zhang 2020). The volume of the corpus striatum modulates when physical exercise reaches a sufficient level. (Rotttensteiner 2015).

Adequate levels of physical activity not only reduce depression, but also prevent neural dysfunction that can occur as a result of depression. However, young people do not get enough exercise. Based on this fact, we believe that it is necessary to use 3D virtual reality applications to increase physical activity levels and exercise motivation.

The aim of our study is to investigate the effect of virtual reality training on balance, depression, anxiety and stress parameters in healthy young people.