IJCRR

IJCRR - 11(16), August, 2019

Pages: 05-08

Date of Publication: 17-Aug-2019

Evaluation of Levels of Physical Activity among Students of S. S. Agrawal Institute of Physiotherapy and Medical Care Education

Author: Darshana Nariya, Simrankaur Sangtani, Prachi Shah, Dhruvi Patel

Category: Healthcare

Abstract:Objectives: To evaluate the levels of physical activity among the physiotherapy students of S.S. Agrawal Institute of Physiotherapy and Medical Care Education.
Methods: The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2002. By using it cross-sectional analysis of 130 physiotherapy students aging 18-22 years was conducted in order to assess levels of Physical Activity (PA). Informed consent was taken priorly, data was collected & analysis was done.
Results: Out of 130 students 10% subjects were having vigorous PA. 58% subjects were having moderate PA. 68% subjects were having low PA. Out of 130 subjects 47% were normal, 30% underweight, 16% over-weight & 6% were obese.
Conclusion: This result shows that 68% subjects were found to have low PA. 16% were over-weight and 6% were obese. There is need to encourage them because they are the ones who are going to provide major advice for physical activities to the patients, so they must be physically active first and it is necessary to further prevent other non-communicable diseases.

Keywords: Physical Activity, Physiotherapy Students, Physical Activity Assessment, BMI, NCDs

Full Text:

Introduction

We are facing a phase of continuously increasing NCDs (non-communicable diseases) associated with sedentary lifestyle and obesity which continues to persist throughout adulthood¹. Present study was conducted with the objective to measure levels physical activity among physiotherapy students by using Global Physical Activity Questioner (GPAQ), is an instrument for measuring the levels of physical activity done by an individual, has been a confirmed source of evaluation and analysis put forward by WHO¹. College is a time of great change for young adults. Newly found independence allows the college student to make decisions and choices by his or herself and one of the most important decisions a college student may make is how to incorporate physical activity (PA) into a busy lifestyle¹. Because students are the ones who are going to provide major advice for physical activities to the patients, they must be physically active first. Due to overload of the curriculum there may be a chance of decreased level of physical activity. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the physical activity among the students of Physiotherapy College.

Benefits of Physical Activity:

• Reduces the risk of chronic disease occurence.¹

• Obesity reduction.¹

• Enhanced cognitive function.²

• Enhanced body image and self esteem.²

• Reduce, help and manage cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes mellitus.³

• Building strong muscles and bones.⁴

• Prevents unhealthy weight gain.^1,2,4,6,7

Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Youth:

These are recently developed guidelines which target children and youth that they should involve at least 60 min of physical activity daily and they should be encouraged to reduce time in sedentary activities and behavior and increased amount of sedentary activities may lead to increase risk of cardiovascular diseases and obesity.¹

Reasons for Physical Inactivity:

70% of young population does not have regular physical activity i.e.; 16-20 years. The most often reasons for physical inactivity may be thought as:

• Too many responsibilities at academic level³

• Lack of time³

• Lack of interest is the additional factors³.

• Obese children and adolescents are main characteristics barrier of a low PA and along with that parental influences can also determine the amount of physical activity done^7,8.

Materials and Methods:

The cross-sectional analysis of students of S.S. Agrawal College of physiotherapy, Navsari was done using conventional method. We selected physiotherapy students to check their level of physical activity from 130 samples in which113 subjects were females and 17 subjects were male of age 18 to 22 years. For this investigation we moved toward the participants exclusively just as in gatherings, earlier consent was taken and intention of study was explained. According to that demographic data was collected on the basis of which BMI was calculated and after that GPAQ was explained and filled by students.

Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ)

WHO developed GPAQ for assessing physical activity in countries around the world. It was mainly developed to be used in developing countries it checks physical activities in different domains like work, transportation, recreation and amount of time spent in sedentary activities. According to questionnaire from the total of 130 subjects each one was asked individually each question and then metabolic equivalent (MET) was calculated in min/week.⁹ Table 1 shows classification of levels of physical activity in GPAQ¹. Total physical activity MET-minutes/week (= the sum of the total MET minutes of activity computed for each setting).

Equation: Total Physical Activity = [(P2 * P3 * 8) + (P5 * P6 * 4) + (P8 * P9 * 4) + (P11 * P12 * 8) + (P14 * P15* 4)]¹

Statistical Method

The data were calculated using SPSS 24.0 version.

Data was presented as mean; standard deviation (SD) describes the demographic data of the subjects. Frequency and percentage were calculated for levels of physical activity and categories of BMI.

Results

Out of 130 students 52.3% were having low PA, 40% moderate PA, 7.6% high PA. Out of 130 students 30% were underweight, 47% were normal 16% were over-weight & 6 % were obese.

Discussion

The study was conducted among Physiotherapy students of S. S. Agrawal Institute of Physiotherapy & Medical Care Education, Navsari. By using GPAQ scoring for calculating physical activity across the domains of work, transport & recreational, out of sample size of 130 subjects, 68 (52.3%) subjects were found to have low physical activity, 52 (40%) subjects were having moderate physical activity, 10 (7.6%) subjects were having vigorous physical activity.

Out of 130 subjects, 39 (30%) subjects were found to have underweight, 62 (47%) subjects were found to have normal BMI, 21 (16%) subjects were overweight & 8 (6%) subjects were obese. In one of the studies which compared physical activity level in hostellers & day schoolers, hostellers had significantly lesser physical activity than day schooler in transport & recreational domain (p<0.001). So adequate facilities should be available to the one living in hostels.¹

In this study, barriers for low physical activity in 52.3% subjects can be due to college workload, lack of motivation, lack of sleep, no exercise partner, inactive social background, lack of place to exercise, lack of knowledge about how to exercise or workout, embarrassed to exercise with others, do not enjoy exercising, current health problems, lack of time to exercise, etc. This leads to physical inactivity & increases the risk for non communicable diseases like; cardiovascular diseases, stroke, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, back pain, osteoporosis, cancer, stress, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, etc¹⁰.

To avoid the barriers, educate the students about the benefits of exercising, i.e., vigorous physical activities are more beneficial for improving health, improving appearance, maintain healthy weight, improve endurance, improve strength, increase energy expenditure, reduces stress, increase self esteem, loses extra calories,  etc. Also educate students for multiple forms of exercise so due to that there will be increase in positive social norms. Physical activity for students, i.e., atleast 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day.¹⁰

Adapting sedentary lifestyle in early years of life make the person lazy & inactive in their adulthood. This leads to risk of severely life threatening diseases in their future life. To prevent this, awareness programs & encouragement related to physical activity need to be undertaken by the students such as, including; sports, athletics, aerobics or yoga. And all these measures should be regarded as an investment not as a burden.¹¹ Apart from that knowledge about daily physical activity habit has been suggested for that pamphlets, posters, group discussion, etc.

It was found in study, that males were more likely to be engaged in physical activity than the females. Females should be educated regarding importance & benefits of physical activity. They should be given multiple opportunities to participate in every programs & event on campus.

Above all, parents & peer involvement in physical activity has greater influence on students, which leads to higher physical activity. Thus social support is an important factor in determining the level of physical activity¹². In college, targeting peers may be a primary strategy to increase activity among students & parents. Parents can be a good supporter in encouraging their children to exercise.

Conclusion

From the above study, we concluded that 52.3% (68) subjects were doing low physical activity, 40% (52) subjects were doing moderate physical activity & 7.6% (10) subjects were doing vigorous physical activity. It was also found that, 30% (39) were underweight, 47% (62) subjects were having normal BMI, 16% (21) subjects were overweight & 6% (8) subjects were obese. Thus, lack of adequate physical activity increase the risk for non communicable disease (NCDs) & it is an easy, cheap & effective way to avoid health diseases.

Acknowledgement                  

Authors acknowledge the immense help received from the scholars whose articles are cited and included in references of this manuscript. The authors are also grateful to authors/editors/ publishers of all those articles, journals and books from where the literature for this article has been reviewed and discussed. We are extremely thankful to the editorial board of “International Journal of Current Research and Review” who have helped in the publication of this manuscript.

Source of Funding: None

Conflict of Interest: None

References:

1. Shah H, Dhami H, Shah T. assessment of physical activity level in female students of residential college using global physical activity questionnaire: A CROSS sectional analysis. International Journal of Current Research. 2016: 8(13):13-24.

2. Taliaferro LA, Rienzo BA, Pigg RM, Miller MD, Dodd VJ. Associations between physical activity and reduced rates of hopelessness, depression, and suicidal behavior among college students. Journal of American College Health.2009; 57(4):427-436.

3. Allison KR, Dwyer JJ, Makin S. Perceived barriers to physical activity among high school students. Preventive Medicine. 1999; 28(6):608-615.

4. Corbin CB. Physical activity for children: A statement of guidelines for children ages 5-12. National Association for Sport and Physical Education. 2004

5. Department of Health and Aging. Australia’s Physical Activ­ity Recommendations for Children and Young People. 2005

6. Bates H. Daily Physical Activity for Children and Youth: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature. 2006

7. Antshel KM, Anderman EM. Social influences on sports participation during adolescence. Journal of Research & Development in Education. 2000; (33): 85-94.

8. Anderssen N, Wold B. Parental and peer influences on leisure-time physical activity in young adolescents. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 1992; 63(4): 341-348.

9. WHO recommendation; World Health Organization. WHO Global recommendations on physical activity for health. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2011.

10. King KA, Vidourek RA, English L, Merianos AL. Vigorous physical activity among college students: using the health belief model to assess involvement and social support. Archives of Exercise in Health and Disease. 2013; 4(2): 267-279.

11. Khera R, Sharma R. Physical inactivity among college students is associated with living in hostels: a study from Delhi, India. Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health. 2012 ;( 15): 83-84.

12. Mane KS, Maganalli A, Siddiqua Nawaz A. A comparative study on awareness about non-communicable diseases and their risk factors among government and private high school students of Davangere city. International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health 2016;

5(10): 2026-2030.

13. Carolyn Kisner, Lynn Allen Colby. Therapeutic exercise- foundations and techniques. 6^th ed. 2013. p. 986.