Impact of Physical Activity Behaviors on Physical Fitness and Health-Related of Life among University Students

Abstract

Background: Low physical activity makes a drastic influence on college students’ physical fitness and quality of life. There is a dire need to investigate how objective and subjective physical activity levels affect health related quality of life among college students. The purpose of this study was to examine the links among physical activity, physiological fitness, and health-related quality of life of the college students in Turkiye. Methodology: Instruments like International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Yamax Digiwalker-SW200 pedometer were used to estimate physical activity. Apart from blood pressure and other anthropometric measures, health-related quality of life was assessed using the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12v2). The sample comprised 264 associate degree students, including 87 males and 177 females. Results: The findings reveal that 22.5% of the total sample had low objective physical activity levels and 26.9% had poor subjective physical activity levels. All participants averaged 39.33 MET-minutes per week (range: 20.34–57.72) and 7482 median steps (range 4778-7494) per week. The mental component summary of the SF-12v2 had a median score of 40.72 (range: 33.25–46.65), the physical component summary had a median score of 52.67 (range:47.06–58.20). Body mass index (BMI) and high degree of physical activity revealed to be major predictors of the physical component since BMI indicated 30.04% overweight against 57.03% with normal BMI. The gender also turned out to be a major predictor for the mental component summary score (R=0.15, p=0.01). Conclusion: Data indicates that increasing physical fitness and Health-related quality of life of students depends on physical activity. For the pupils, a high degree of physical activity indicates their health-related quality of life. © 2024 PNG Publications. All rights reserved.