Level of Physical Activity at Lebanese Universities’ Students of Both Genders: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Examining students’ levels of physical activity is important because these students will be the future leaders of their communities. Objectives: The aim of this study was to generate primary information and describe the lifestyle behavior patterns considering physical activity prevalence among gender-related Lebanese college students. Methods: The study involved 600 students (346 Men, 254 Women with mean age 23.5 ± 3.96). The participants’ levels of physical activity was examined by utilizing the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The over-all level of physical activity including the four-lifestyle fields: work, transportation, home and gardening, and leisure-time, was presented as metabolic equivalent-min per week (MET-min/week). Results: Findings indicated 22% of students with high physical activity level, 61% and 17 % with moderate and low levels respectively. Based on activity Intensity, 47% (n= 282) of students were engaged in vigorous activity, while 45.2% (n= 271) were engaged in moderate activity, and 68.3% (n=410) were engaged in walking activities. Average time spent sitting for the whole sample was 6.23 daily hours. The level of weekly total physical activity expressed in metabolic equivalent represented 2970.5 MET/min/week in males and 2719.5 MET/min/week in females. Conclusion: In general, Lebanese universities students were equally active, with trivial supremacy for males. Lebanese university students met the (WHO) recommendations for physical activity (>150 min/week of moderate activity or > 75 min/week of vigorous activity or an equivalent combination of both activities). Physical Activity must be developed by the provision of physical activity classes in the university curriculum and extracurricular activities.

Acciones para una universidad saludable: Impacto sobre la salud mental y física de los jóvenes (Actions for a healthy university: Impact on mental and physical health in young people)

“…En este sentido, nuestra intervención permitió tras cinco semanas de entrenamiento que los participantes alcanzaran niveles de AF altos. Estos niveles se mantuvieron tras dos semanas post entrenamiento, superando en ambos casos a los resultados obtenidos por estudios previos (Boguszewski et al, 2021;Fayyad & Dopsaj, 2021;Gallè et al, 2020). Los resultados obtenidos en el IPAQ tras la evaluación realizada tras dos semanas post intervención, podrían indicar la efectividad de este tipo de intervenciones sobre la adherencia a corto plazo a la práctica de ejercicio por parte de estudiante universitarios sedentarios.…”