Study on physical activities in Babol City

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Inactivity is an important cause of chronic diseases. The level of ones physical activity depends on his or her age, sex, education, job, smoking and etc. This study was performed to assess the physical activity level and its relation to demographic characteristics in population of in Babol, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 2500 people in Babol, in 2007. In this multi stage sampling there were 20 clusters, each cluster contained 125 persons aged 20-65 years old. In each cluster data was gathered by convenience sampling by means of International physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) contains information about level of physical activity in three levels (severe, moderate and light).FINDINGS: Mean hours of physical activity per week were 3.22±7.38 for severe, 5.7±8.5 for moderate, 1.7±2.47 for light physical activity and 36.1±17.45 for sedentary activities. Men had significantly more physical activities in every levels than women (p=0.000, p=0.000 and p=0.05). There were also significant differences between job and amounts of physical activities in every three levels (p=0.000). Illiterate persons and persons with elementary education had severe physical activity (p=0.000).CONCLUSION: This study showed that the level of sedentary activity was more than other activities that can result in many chronic diseases. So it is recommended to consider the public educational programs in order to encourage people to have regular physical activity and make it as a good habit during their life.