When it comes to be physically active, there is no single size that fits everyone with same effectiveness. People around the world have so much diversities and have so many different cultural and physical parameters that it is almost impossible to design an exercise method that benefits everyone upon this earth with equal degrees of benefits.A recent landmark research study conducted at the ‘University of Alberta’, Canada says that this study has been successful in defining the underlying trends variance and preferences for making a decision about what should be a most correct exercise pattern in case any person wants to be physically active.
People across the world belong to different cultures, ethnicities, genders, and income levels. Each of these people has different influences and different choices even in being physically active.
Professor Jane Ruseski and Professor Brad Humphyes at the University of Alberta included varied parameters in this research study. Some of these parameters include income, education and ethnicity which are prime influencing factors related to a person’s decision of remaining physically active.
Researchers involved the data of government spending on parks and other recreation facilities and examined their impacts on a person’s decision to the extent of participation in physical activities and other sports.
It was observed that simple walking was the most favored physical activity that was counted as an exercise and almost 57% people voted for this pattern. Study results also revealed that with an increasing in age the rate of participation in walking as a physical activity also increases significantly. Brad Humphreys says, “Programs aimed at promoting walking for exercise could appeal to older populations”.
Walking is a main physical activity and it is relatively the cheapest type of physical activity. Walking can be performed in almost every condition, weather and it does not need any special equipment or specific technique and other infrastructural facilities.
Researchers observed that with an increase in income level involvement in other types of physical activities also increases. Compared to the people who were simply high school graduates the people who has higher educational backgrounds were more inclined and participated with more interests in the outdoor recreation, sports, and other activities. On the other hand females on an average were less inclined to participate in such type of outdoor activities, group sports, and even the individual sports compared to their male counterparts.
The average time spent on physical activities in case of female was found to be almost 444 minutes per week less than their male counterparts in outdoor recreational activities. Similarly it was 108 minutes less on group sports and 74 minutes less in case of individual sports compared to males. Researchers feel that the child-care responsibilities and other household duties are mainly responsible for this less time spent in case of females as they normally have to invest one more hour in their homes compared to males on average.
Researchers feel that development of physical activity programs must be focused on these important factors along with other considerations affecting the outcomes of people from different ethnicities ad diverse cultures. Any particular program designed for some specific population group may not hold well with same outcomes in case of other population groups.”Our results have important implications for the design of government interventions aimed at increasing physical activity”, says Brad Humphreys.
