Physical Activity Levels among Male and Female Undergraduate Students at Umm Al-Qura University

Abstract

Physically inactive is a significant problem in modern society worldwide. One of the primary reasons for this problem is that technological advances have allowed a reduction in energy expenditure for most individuals in habitual daily tasks. This study aimed to assess the levels of physical activity among male and female students at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This research is a cross-sectional study conducted at UQU between September and December 2019 that investigated the levels of physical activity in a sample of 968 male and female students (452 males and 516 females), (mean age ± SD, 22.1 ± 1.7 years). The Arabic short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to assess physical activity levels. The majority of students (54%) were observed to be at a light-intensity physical activity level (238.0 ± 143 MET-minutes/week), 38.4% were achieving the recommended daily levels of moderate-intensity physical activity (1470 ± 701 MET-minutes/week), and 7.6% were achieving vigorous-intensity physical activity (3903 ± 1043 MET-minutes/week). The independent samples t-test indicated no significant differences in light-intensity physical activities between males (240.4 ± 147 MET-minutes/week) and females (236.6 ± 141 MET-minutes/week) t (519) = .287; p < 0.167. The present study concluded that 54% of the participants were failing to meet the physical activity recommendations of the WHO; this is a key public health concern. National campaigns with collaborations of various government and public sectors in KSA are needed to increase physical activity in different domains.