Level of physical activity of physical education students according to criteria of the IPAQ questionnaire and the recommendation of WHO experts

Abstract

SummaryStudy aim: Systematic physical activity is an effective preventive measure that supports the preservation of physical health and psychological health. Three expressions employed that relate to the work carried out with MET-min/week as a measure of the level of total physical activity are intense activity, moderate activity, and walking. These were applied to students studying Physical Education. In the process, those who failed to meet the requirements for the 'sufficient' level according to IPAQ criteria and as recommended by the WHO were identified. Material and methods: Research was conducted amongst 146 students: 50 from Charles University (CU) and 96 from the University of Physical Education in Warsaw (UPE). The total physical activity of students was determined according to the accepted standards (IPAQ). WHO recommendations concerning physical activity per week were converted into MET-min/week used by IPAQ as follows: physical activity needs to achieve at least 1200 MET-min/week to increase its effect on health.Results: The study of Physical Education students at CU shows that they were significantly more active than their counterparts at UPE. Total physical activity per week as measured by IPAQ at CU was 9525.2 ± 4275.9 for men and 10964.3 ± 4092.0 MET-min/week for women. At UPE, this was 4034.3 ± 2617.8 for men and 2469.8 ± 1721.2 MET-min/week for women. The difference in total levels of physical activity carried out by these students was found to depend largely upon their involvement in championship sports. Inclusion of WHO recommendations in the assessment of physical activity of students increased the proportion of individuals with low activity levels, particularly in the group of not-training students. Conclusions: It is recommended either that the WHO criterion "of activity level for health" be added to the IPAQ classification, thus toughening the requirements of the moderate level of activity, or, alternatively, an additional threshold of completing at least 1200 MET-min/week be applied, with the recommendation that this is achieved on a regular basis.

Determining the level of physical activity estimated by the Canada Fitness Survey questionnaire using criteria of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire

“…The CFS information declared by the respondents, concerning the length and intensity of efforts in a week and converted into metabolic equivalents of work (METs), according to the procedure used in the IPAQ [24], allowed the calculation of average energy expenditure for women at 2492 MET/min/week and for men at 2956 MET/min/week. These data are consistent with the weekly workload that was found in students of the Warsaw Academy of Physical Education using the IPAQ, in terms of gender (women 2470 and men 4034 MET/min/week) [21], and in students of similar studies in Beijing (respectively 1982 and 2843 MET/min/week) [32].…”

“…It seems alarming that there was a high percentage of people who do not meet even the conditions for a sufficient level although similar fractions in the population studying physical education have been identified in Beijing (12% of female students and 19% of male students) [32]. In other reports determining the level of physical activity in this group of students, the percentages of people with insufficient levels of physical activity ranged only from 2.4% to 5.5% in men and 6.2% in women [21,32]. In contrast, this type of study using the IPAQ conducted among low-activity students of the humanities at the University of Silesia also showed less than 2.5% of women and 1.5% of men with the lowest levels of activity [17].…”

“…However, the differences in the level of activity depend largely on the involvement in sports activities associated with practising sports. This is probably the reason why a review of sources also revealed significantly higher mean MET values for activities undertaken in a week by students of physical education at Charles University in Prague (women 10964, men 9525 MET/min/week) [21] and Olomulcu (respectively 5296 and 6456 MET/min/week) [32], as well as in female students (mostly players) from Poznan [28]. According to the classification adopted in the paper, a high level of physical activity was found in 38.8% of subjects (42% of men and 31% of women), a sufficient level in 47.2% (respectively 47.8 and 45.7%) and a unsufficient level in 14% (in terms of gender 10.2% and 23.3%).…”

“…Based on the answers given, it is possible to collect quantitative information on participation in different types of activity and to determine its frequency [7,12,26], to calculate the total daily or weekly energy expenditure [5,25] or express the energy expended on each of the activities given by respondents in the MET measure [2]. These measurable ways to calculate physical activity are nowadays most often used in international [3,10,21,22,32) and intra-population comparisons [6,13,29] to identify groups that are least physically active.…”

Anthropometric, body composition and behavioural predictors of bioelectrical impedance phase angle in Polish young adults – preliminary results

“…Also, Pastuszak et al, in their study conducted among students of physical education from Warsaw and the Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic) reported the level of PA among Czech students on the level of 9,525.2 in males and 10,964.3 in females, whereas among Polish students -on the level of 4,034.3 and 2,469.8, respectively (mean MET-min/ week values were provided.) [38].…”