Nível de atividade física em estudantes de Educação física: comparação entre os sexos

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the physical activity level (PAL) in physical education undergraduate students, examining differences among sexes. To develop the work 253 students (21 ± 2.6 years-old) represented by 124 men (21 ± 2.5 years-old) and 129 women (21 ± 2.7 years-old) were evaluated by applying the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) - Short version, which is based in activities carried out by individual during a regular week, such as walking, moderate and vigorous physical activity, and sitting time. Results were statistically analyzed by Student t test for independent samples with p<0.05. The sum of the overall energy expenditure in walking and moderate and vigorous activities did not show any differences comparing men (4155.6 ± 3769.5 MET / week) and women (4099 ± 3650.6 MET / week). According to the IPAQ classification, majority of the students was considered "Active". Only a small number of the volunteers was classified as "Sedentary". In males, the most common categories were: "Very Active", "irregularly active A” and “irregularly active B”. In women the most frequent categories were "active" and "Sedentary". Concerning physical inactivity levels, there were no significant differences between sitting time during the weekdays and sitting time during the weekends, both for males and females. From the results, it was observed that most men (59.7%) and women (65.1%) reach the minimum recommendation for physical activity proposed by the World Health Organization.