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Research has clearly shown that all individuals will benefit from regular physical activity. Unfortunately, young adults including college and university students are not physically active on a regular basis worldwide. In the developing world particularly in Sub- Saharan Africa, physical inactivity along with tobacco use, poor diet and nutrition are increasingly parts of today&rsquo / s lifestyle. Physical activity declines with age and the most important decline appear to be during the transition period from high school to university and during university years. The aim of this study was to assess the level of physical activity, to investigate the perceived constraints to physical activity and to determine whether socio-demographic characteristic have an influence on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity among paramedical institutions students in Uganda. A cross-sectional study with descriptive quantitative design was conducted. Four hundred (400) paramedical institution students were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire adopted from the literature was used to collect the data. A response rate of 90% was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics using the statistical package for social sciences were used to analyze the data. The relationships and associations between different variables were determined by carrying out significant tests using chi-square tests. Alpha level was set at 0.05. The mean age of the sample was 22.44 years (SD = 2.03). Males constituted 73.9% and females constituted 26.1% of the sample. Students from eight (8) health professional courses participated in the study. Over half (59%) of participants were classified as physically active and 41% were classified as inactive or sedentary. For male participants, lack of the right equipment to exercise and wanting to do other things in their free time were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. For female participants, lack of motivation and tiredness after exercise were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. The findings of this study demonstrate that there is an influence of socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, year of the study and different departments/schools on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity. They also indicate the need of health promotion intervention aiming at promoting physical activity among paramedical institution students in Uganda.

published_or_final_version / Human Performance / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Research has clearly shown that all individuals will benefit from regular physical activity. Unfortunately, young adults including college and university students are not physically active on a regular basis worldwide. In the developing world particularly in Sub- Saharan Africa, physical inactivity along with tobacco use, poor diet and nutrition are increasingly parts of today&rsquo / s lifestyle. Physical activity declines with age and the most important decline appear to be during the transition period from high school to university and during university years. The aim of this study was to assess the level of physical activity, to investigate the perceived constraints to physical activity and to determine whether socio-demographic characteristic have an influence on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity among paramedical institutions students in Uganda. A cross-sectional study with descriptive quantitative design was conducted. Four hundred (400) paramedical institution students were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire adopted from the literature was used to collect the data. A response rate of 90% was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics using the statistical package for social sciences were used to analyze the data. The relationships and associations between different variables were determined by carrying out significant tests using chi-square tests. Alpha level was set at 0.05. The mean age of the sample was 22.44 years (SD = 2.03). Males constituted 73.9% and females constituted 26.1% of the sample. Students from eight (8) health professional courses participated in the study. Over half (59%) of participants were classified as physically active and 41% were classified as inactive or sedentary. For male participants, lack of the right equipment to exercise and wanting to do other things in their free time were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. For female participants, lack of motivation and tiredness after exercise were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. The findings of this study demonstrate that there is an influence of socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, year of the study and different departments/schools on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity. They also indicate the need of health promotion intervention aiming at promoting physical activity among paramedical institution students in Uganda.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of acute high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) vs. continuous moderate-intensity exercise (CME) on serum CTRP9 and brachial FMD responses in obese and normal-weight subjects. Sixteen participants (9 obese and 7 normal-weight) completed HIIE and CME in a randomized fashion. Our results showed a significant time effect for CTRP9 immediately following acute HIIE and CME in both groups. Furthermore, both significant treatment by time and group by time interactions for FMD were observed following both exercise protocols, with greater CME-induced FMD response in obese subjects than normal-weight subjects. Additionally, a positive correlation in percent change (baseline to peak) between CTRP9 and FMD was observed following acute CME. These findings support acute CME for improvement of endothelial function in obesity. Furthermore, the novel results from this study provide a foundation for additional examination of the mechanisms of exercise-mediated CTRP9 on endothelial function. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this research was to investigate if various psychological wellbeing assessments can predict maximal strength performance and self-scored rating of perceived exertion (RPE) in the back squat. Fifty-eight resistance-trained males and females were recruited, and reported to the laboratory on one day. Subjects completed eight different scales and questionnaires before completing one-repetition maximum (1RM) testing of the squat, followed by two single-repetition sets at 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% of 1RM, and a set to volitional fatigue at 70% of 1RM. Cognitive anxiety and hypersomnia were found to be positive and negative predictors (p<0.05), respectively, of 1RM performance. Further, self-confidence, grit, and perceived recovery status were significant negative predictors of RPE (p<0.05). Finally, PRS was discovered to be a positive predictor of subject-reported 1RM self-efficacy (b=0.39, t=3.14, p<0.01, R2=0.15). / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Hong Wai Lin. / "July 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-211) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

A quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis) was conducted to determine the effects of exercise on health-related physical fitness of people with an intellectual disability. While studies on this topic have been qualitatively reviewed (e.g., Fernhall, 1993; Fernhall, Tymeson, & Webster, 1988; Pitetti, Rimmeri & Fernhall, 1993), the effects of exercise on some of the health-related physical fitness components remains unclear, or unknown. Further, none of the reviews determined the influence of study characteristics on study outcomes. / The data were 24 studies yielding 104 effect sizes based on 826 subjects. / These analyses revealed that the outcomes of the studies related to cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance were influenced by the variables of document source and length of program. More specifically, published studies produced significantly larger mean effect size than unpublished studies, and longer programs ($ ge$9 weeks) produced significantly larger mean effect size than shorter programs (58 weeks). Further it was found that the level of exercise frequency, influenced flexibility. More specifically, programs with higher exercise frequency ($>$3 times per week) produced significantly larger mean effect size than programs with lower exercise frequency (3 times per week). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

[Truncated abstract] The main purpose of this research was to conduct a series of studies with the aim of contributing information about methods for measuring and analyzing physical environmental attributes of neighbourhoods and the influence of these attributes on specific types of physical activity behaviour. Furthermore, this research examined the moderating affect of the objective physical environment on the relationship between cognitions and physical activity behaviours and the mediating role of the cognitions on the associations between the objective physical environment and physical activity. The research included secondary analyses of data collected as part of the Studies of Environmental and Individual Determinants of Physical Activity (SEID1 and SEID2: Corti 1998; Pikora 2003) and the Physical Activity in Localities and Community Environments study (PLACE: Leslie et al. 2005a; Leslie et al. 2005b). Demographic, cognitive, social and behavioural data from the baseline and follow-up surveys from SEID1 (Corti 1998), and objectively measured built environmental data from SEID2 (Pikora 2003) were analyzed. ... A stronger association between frequency of past trying and recreational walking was also found for respondents residing in neighbourhoods with more recreational destinations (β = 0.11), compared with fewer destinations (β = 0.00). These findings show some evidence that the built environment can affect exercise-related cognitions, which in turn influence physical activity. Findings of this and other research (Owen et al. 2000; Humpel et al. 2002; Saelens et al. 2003b; Foster & Hillsdon 2004; McCormack et al. 2004; Owen et al. 2004; Badland & Schofield 2005; Duncan et al. 2005; Heath et al. 2006) support the need to create supportive environments that encourage both recreational and transport-related physical activity. Providing more opportunities and a greater variety of destinations close to home could encourage physical activity participation, and may even assist some individuals to achieve sufficient levels to accrue health benefits. However, additional research is necessary to understand how both the perceived and objectively measured built environment influences physical activity and to provide evidence of temporal causality between environments, cognitions, and physical activity behaviour.

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