Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Apr 30:2:19.
doi: 10.4103/2277-9531.112690. eCollection 2013.

Assessment of physical activity in medical and public health students

Mehri Rejali  1 , Mahnaz Mostajeran
Affiliations

Assessment of physical activity in medical and public health students

Mehri Rejali et al. J Educ Health Promot. .

Abstract

Background: Reduced level of physical activity, as an important problem of urbanization and industrial development, has a considerable impact on the population morbidity and mortality. The rate of inactivity has been reported to be 60-85% in adults worldwide. Considering the importance of physical activity among youth, the aim of this study was to evaluate the physical activity among university students.

Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study physical activity was assessed in 399 medical and public health students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Physical activity was evaluated by standard questionnaire in four fields containing job, transport, work, and leisure time at home.

Findings: Regarding moderate physical activity, 48.6% of students were active and the rest were inactive. Regarding severe physical activity, 32.6% were active and the rest were inactive. Mean number of hours for moderate activity per day was 1.96 ± 0.19 h/day in the last 7 days. There was a significant relationship between physical activity and sex and students' course of study.

Conclusion: The results indicated that the level of physical activity was not sufficient among students; therefore, considering its importance among students, it is necessary to educate them regarding lifestyle modification specially to increase the level of physical activity during their leisure time.

Keywords: Inactivity; physical activity; student.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

References

    1. World nutrition & Health cultural institution. Feeding the world. 2002;21:50.
    1. Sheikholeslam R. Prevent of non- communicable diseases. Pejouhesh. 2002;4:4–6.
    1. Azizi F. Life style modification for Prevent non- communicable diseases. Iran J Endocrinol Metab. 2002;4:3–5.
    1. Sheikholeslam R. Cancer, physical activity and diet. J Feed World. 2002;21:8–10.
    1. Taharok Ramze Salamati. [Last accessed on 2011 Feb 04]. Available from: http://www.irteb.com/sportmedical/taharok.htm .