PhD, Associate Professor A.V. Kabachkova
National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk

As provided by WHO (2004), motor (physical) activity is an energy-intensive movement of human skeletal muscles. The term “motor activity” is often deemed synonymic to “motor regimen” that means the total individual motor activity within a specific timeframe. It is in this broad understanding that motor activity is an important factor affecting human health, quality and life expectancy, and in this meaning it is considered a key factor of influence on health and life quality and expectancy. We used the Russian version of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) to rate the weekly physical activity. Representative sample for the study included the relatively healthy 1-3-year students (n=300, with 100 people of every year) trained at the Tomsk State University Physical Education Department. Additional health data were produced using the Personal Information Questionnaire of our own design. The survey data were analyzed in the absolute and relative values to find benefits and limitations of the GPAQ survey. We found about one of three sampled individuals’   weekly physical activity being under the health minimum, irrespective of the academic year, physical activity schedule and intensity. The GPAQ was found to provide promising tools to analyze the academic physical activity.

Keywords: physical activity, physical inactivity, questionnaire survey.

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