Exercício físico de longa duração melhora a qualidade de vida

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2010

RESUMO

The aim of this study was to justify that long-term exercise improves quality of life in an adult population, using WHOQOL-100. The research can be described as both descriptive and exploratory, and was carried out among 320 adults, aged 24 to 56, in Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. These included 145 individuals working in public service, 135 working in the private sector, and 40 long-distance triathletes. From this sample, 124 individuals agreed to participate in the study and were divided into three groups, all male: the first group included 46 sedentary individuals, ranging from 25 to 56 years of age (with an average age of 37.02 9.59 years), who dedicate less than 150 minutes/week of physical activity on leisure; the second group included 54 moderately active individuals, ranging from 24 to 56 years of age (with an average age of 34.16 9.31 years), who accumulate 150 or more minutes/week of leisure-time physical activity; and the third group included 24 highly active individuals, ranging in age from 26 to 49 (with an average age of 37.50 6.73 years), who are longdistance triathletes that practice an average of 13 to 25 hours/week, or approximately 780 to 1500 minutes/week. The WHOQOL was applied to the triathletes specific training period and the inclusion criteria selected those individuals who wished to participate. The highly active individuals were classified as such according to their participation in Ironman Brasil 2007 (regardless of whether or not they completed the race), and the exclusion criteria for sedentary and moderately active individuals was to eliminate triathletes. It was found that highly active individuals have a better quality of life when compared to the other groups, according to specific attributes from the global quality-of-life index. The lowest score for all three groups was noted in evaluating physical condition in relation to pain and discomfort, and the highest score for both sedentary and highly active individuals was noted in the aspect regarding addiction and treatment. (A higher score in this case corresponds to a lesser addiction, therefore contributing to a better quality of life.) Conversely, for the moderately active, the highest score was noted for the aspect evaluating the capacity to work. Statistical analyses showed a positive correlation with higher quality of life for highly active individuals, indicating that long-term physical activity does improve overall quality of life.

ASSUNTO(S)

qualidade de vida educacao fisica exercício físico physical exercise life quality

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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