The practice and benefits of regular physical exercises among adults living in Gunchire Town; A community based Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background:Regular physical activity of moderate intensity – such as walking, cycling, or doing sports – has significant benefits for health. It improve muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness;improve bone and functional health;reduce the risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various types of cancer, and depression;reduce the risk of falls as well as hip or vertebral fractures; andare fundamental to energy balance and weight control.Maintaining regular physical exercise is one of the Health interventions designed to prevent existing high burden of Non-communicable disease and a strategy designed to maintain physically fit and mentally capable healthy community. Therefore, assessing the practice of regular physical exercise and identifying its determinants is very important. Objective: To assess the practice of regular physical exercise and its health benefit among adults living in Gunchire town, southern Ethiopia, 2020 Methods: A community based cross sectional study was employed in gunchire town from June – September, 2020. All adults that hosted in the town were the study population. The total sample size for the study was 230 and obtained by using single population proportion. Then using simple random method study participants were selected and interview by data collectors. Data will be collected by using structured questionnaire. Results: of the expected 230 participants, 212 (92%) were responded to the interview.Based on this research, 25% of the study participants have regular physical exercise working with 3 hours of exercise per week. The main reason for regular exercise was for health benefit, for physical fitness (posture) and other related benefits. Most of the participants engage in physical exercise based on their own interest, while some other perform with medical orders. Conclusion: the habit of physical exercise in this research is better than some of the researches conducted in different parts of the country.