Impacto do transporte ativo nos níveis de atividade física em adolescentes da cidade de Curitiba

Abstract

A healthy lifestyle is directly related to physical activity. Decreased physical activity and increased exposure to sedentary habits in adolescents is increasingly common, generating an increase in the rate of overweight and obesity among this age group. Studies have shown that most of the habits developed in adolescence are transmitted to adulthood, making necessary the initiatives that minimize this problem. The aim of this study was to verify the impact of active trasnportation in the level of physical activity in adolescents. The Information about physical activity, sedentary and active trasnportation were collected by two questionnaires, one answered by the guardian and the other by the adolescents themselves. Participants underwent an anthropometric assessment to calculate BMI. The prevalence of overweight was 29.2%, presented a higher percentage than boys (38.7% vs 22.0%). Only 22.2% of the sample had sufficient amounts of physical activity while 93.1% were classified as sedentary. With respect to active transportation, only 16.6% of the sample uses this activity and the main reasons for non-use are the uncertainty in traffic, distance and social insecurity. This study concluded that active transportation is an important issue to be considered in the daily activities of adolescents because has impacted positively on variables, with lower BMI and sedentary habits and higher amounts of physical activity, but its use among the sample was low, pointing the need for more studies.