Abstract
The aim of this systematic review was to examine the scientific evidence regarding physical activity and physical fitness among university students. The search and analysis of the studies were done in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. An electronic databases search (Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus) yielded 11,839 studies. Subsequently, the identified studies had to be published in English between 2011 and 2021, the experimental study had to have included males and females attending a faculty, and the participants had to have been evaluated for physical activity and fitness. A total of 21 studies were included in the quantitative synthesis, with a total of 7306 participants, both male and female. After analyzing the obtained results, it could be concluded that university students show a satisfactory level of physical activity and physical fitness. However, the results vary due to different factors involved, mostly related to the cultural differences and educational systems in different countries. As this study observes mediocre results of physical activity and physical fitness among university students, it is crucial to get their attention and awareness, to at least maintain a satisfactory level of physical activity and physical fitness.
Highlights
Diet and physical activity directly affect the health status of adults and children [1,2,3,4,5,6].Due to the fact that the largest part of the world’s population is physically inactive, physical inactivity is considered to be a public health problem, as opposed to an individual problem.According to the report of the World Health Organization, physical inactivity is a risk factor, along with smoking, obesity, and hypertension [7]
The current study aimed to examine the scientific evidence regarding physical activity and physical fitness among university students
This was confirmed by Kaminska et al [31] who found that students of the faculty of sports have better physical fitness compared to physiotherapy students, which was explained by a higher degree of physical activity in classes
Summary
Diet and physical activity directly affect the health status of adults and children [1,2,3,4,5,6]. According to the report of the World Health Organization, physical inactivity is a risk factor, along with smoking, obesity, and hypertension [7]. Stable countries (about 60–70% of them) do not achieve even the minimum level of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization in order to maintain health and energy balance [9,10]. Health-related physical fitness is influenced by many other factors, such as body weight and socioeconomic status. The physical activity level of individuals of low socioeconomic status likely suffers due to their living areas providing less access to parks [11] and neighborhood walkability [12]
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