The effect and mechanism of physical exercise on ego depletion in college students.

Background: Amid rising academic pressures and heightened job market demands, college students increasingly experience mental health challenges.

Aims: This study explores how physical exercise affects ego depletion among college students, using the self-control resource model to understand the underlying processes.

Methods: The study included two parts. First, we surveyed 1032 college students (average age: 20.29 years; 592 males, 440 females) to examine the relationships among negative life events, self-control, physical exercise, and ego depletion. In the second part, 104 students (average age: 19.89 years; 54 males, 50 females) participated in a four-week exercise intervention. They completed three 18-minute high-intensity exercise sessions per week, totaling 12 sessions, to assess changes in self-control and ego depletion.

Results: The survey results showed that negative life events were linked to increased ego depletion and lower self-control. Self-control partially explained how negative life events affected ego depletion. Additionally, regular physical exercise reduced the negative impact of stressful life events on self-control, especially at higher levels. The exercise intervention significantly improved students' self-control and reduced ego depletion.

Conclusions: Physical exercise serves as a protective factor that helps students maintain self-control and resist ego depletion under stress. By integrating large-scale survey data with an experimental intervention, this study uniquely provides both correlational evidence and preliminary causal insight into the role of exercise in mitigating ego depletion among college students.