Abstract
Background: The prevalence of burnout among physicians is significantly high. Although the cause of burnout is unclear, many have reported that it originally begins during medical school. Burnout has been found to cause lower academic achievements and bad quality of life in addition to poor levels mental and physical well-being. It was originally reported that physical activity is associated with decreased frequency of burnout events. There are few studies on the connection for both physical training and burnout among medical students. The goal of this research is to see if there's any correlation in both physical training and burnout among medical students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: Maslach's burnout instrument and Baeck's physical activity tool were used in this cross-sectional study on male and female medical students from several medical colleges in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire measured physical activity and burnout levels, as well as the relationship between the two. Results: A total of 411 responses were received, with males accounting for 50.6%. Nearly half of medical students (49%) reported emotional exhaustion at a modest level, while 11.4% reported severe emotional exhaustion. 56% had low physical activity levels whereas 41.6% had moderate physical activity levels, with 2.4% reporting high physical activity levels. Physical activity was shown to be positively correlated with academic efficacy and negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Conclusion: Medical students in Riyadh had lower levels of burnout and physical activity in comparison to other studies. Physical activity was concluded to have a substantial negative correlation with emotional exhaustion and cynicism, and a positive correlation with academic efficacy.