There have been various campaigns aimed at promoting physical activity among adult populations mostly in the developed nations, largely due to increasing rates of obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Physical activity may be defined as a bodily movement that causes a substantial increase in energy expenditure. Physical activities in adults includes leisure time physical activities such as walking, swimming, gardening, hiking, dancing, transportation activities such as walking, running, and cycling, work-related physical activities, household activities, and sports.
Various medical evidence demonstrate that physical activity in adults is very beneficial, and it leads to lower rates of all possible cause of mortality, coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, colon and breasts cancer, depression and metabolic syndrome (Åstrand and Kåre, 543) . In addition, those who engage in physical activity have less risk of a hip or vertebral fracture and they exhibit impressive levels of cardio-respiratory and muscular fitness, can achieve weight maintenance, healthier body mass and composition.
Some factors cause physical activity or sedentary behaviour in adults, and these may include environmental, social or psychological factors. The aim of this paper seeks to look individually tailored initiatives and interventions on how to increase the levels of physical activities in adults, considering psychological factors. Recent studies have shown that there are a number of these psychological factors that influence physical activity in adults are broad; the psychological factors include self-efficacy, motivation, emotions, personality traits, maladaptive health behaviours, stress, other cognitive habits and others.
Threshold of Physical Activity
Increasing research evidence indicate that adults in the United Kingdom especially those who are at their prime age (18-45) do not engage in exercise of sufficient intensity, duration and the frequency that are necessary for health benefits. The statistics reflect that, in the United Kingdom, only about 40 percent of men and about 28% of women satisfy the given threshold for physical activity in adults. However, various bodies have acknowledged the role of regular physical activity in adults, essential for their physical and mental health.
Regular physical activities in adults are when they spend an average time of 150 minutes per week engaging in moderate exercise; this is an equivalent of about two and a half hours every week. Several studies suggested different interventions strategies that should be applied to a given situation to increase his physical activity. Increasing individually tailored interventions to increase physical activity among adults need an extensive process that includes and integrates approaches that target the individual’s specific need and also, it should encompass delivery modalities.
Currently, there is a substantial interest in physical activity related to youths primarily, the subject of the present study, university students. According to Goldhaber-Fiebert (2013), physical inactivity and CVD risk factors can be tracked down to one’s youthful age, particularly the age when people are generally in universities or colleges. This means that the heart disease of a middle-aged individual or one that is aged can be traced to a certain degree from the youthful CVD risk factors. Hence, atherosclerosis is a progressive condition that has its roots from the youthful age, and this provides insights into the significance of its prevention during the young age. Hasselstrom (2002) opines that there is a complex interrelationship between physical activity, cardiovascular disease risk factors and the health outcomes across an individual’s lifespan. This means that has individual that is physically inactive shall likely have an unfavourable cardiovascular risk factor profile, which will likely increase deaths from CVD. Consequently, CVD morbidity can act to hinder and decrease the rate of regular physical activity. Amongst the youths, the relationship between physical activity and CVD risk factors are a little blurred. Essentially, this means that physical activity in youths has an impact of adult CVD risk factors; conversely, CVD risk factors during the youthful age affects later years physical activity. Seefeldt, Malina & Clark (2002) postulates that childhood physical activity plus other CVD risk factors have a direct relationship to adult health outcomes. Activity Epidemiology is primarily based on accurate measurement of habitual activity, and this can be measured reliably by various means such as questionnaires, diaries, surveys, motion sensors, heart rate monitors, double labelled water, indirect calorimetry, and amongst others. Youths need to expend at least three to four kcal/kg a day, as they are still physically active adults. However, six kcal per kg a day is ideal for physically active youthful adults. In a broad review of other literary works that are fundamentally population based, and using objective measures of physical activity, Hasselstrom (2002) established that young adults engage in approximately an hour a day. Further, they determined that 68 percent of males and 30 percent of females did participate in modest to vigorous physical activity for twenty minutes between three times and more times each week. Recent British Heart Foundation report has established that approximately 30 percent of university students in the entire nation participate in activities that make them sweat and breathe for a minimum of 20 minutes in at least three days a week. It is important to reiterate that physical inactivity is a modifiable risk factor for the cardiovascular disease and a number of ever-increasing chronic diseases that include diabetes mellitus, cancer, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and amongst others. According to the National Health Services, the prevalence of physical inactivity in young adults is comparatively higher more than any other modifiable factors. In this section, the literature of past work is reviewed that relates to physical inactivity in relation to primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in students. It is also important to draw evidence that relates to physical activity and the musculoskeletal fitness and in brief provide a description of the independent impacts of frequency and the intensity of the physical activity or inactivity. Evidence from many scientific researchers have affirmed that reduction of physical inactivity leads to a decrease in the chance of having a cardiovascular disease, and the need to undergo a coronary revascularization procedure. Regular activity has a positive impact on the different traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Physical activity promotes a reduction of weight and assists in blood pressure reduction, and it just acts by reducing bad cholesterol levels in the blood, and otherwise known as the low-density lipoprotein plus the total cholesterol and can increase the so-called good cholesterol, also known as the high-density lipoprotein. Different age groups direct different amounts physical amounts of activities, and for university students who are potentially within the age of a group of 18 to 30 years, the physical activity requirement is specific. In Britain, and much like in the developed world, more people are increasingly becoming overweight and obese, and the National Health Service together with the British Heart Foundation has provided the catalyst to promote physical activity amongst the general populace. It is usually argued that engaging in at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity daily is necessary for all adults, and the moderate physical activity can be described as an activity that is described as a brisk walk and at speeds of between four and six kilometres an hour. In addition, the physical activities can encompass all other categories of recreational and occupational exercise that are not only of similar intensity but also some that are dynamic in orientation, and these may include swimming, mowing, cycling, and amongst others. The level of physical activity is equivalent to about six to eight a 30-minute sessions in a week and gauged at an intensity that is equal to four to seven multiples of resting metabolic rate (METs). Consequently, this value of MET is also approximately 500 to 1000 calories that are exhausted each week. Many different research that have documented the advantages of physical activity usually use plans that consist of thirty to sixty minutes of continuous engagement for three days every week at an intensity that match sixty percent to seventy percent of a person’s heart rate reserve. It is not, however so important that a healthy adult regularly monitor their heart rate. A good cardiovascular workout would inevitably lead to an increase in heart rate according to the physical intensity and with better health effects. It is estimated that about between thirty percent and forty percent fall in cardiovascular events is possible to students if they attain the NHS prescribed levels of physical activity.