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THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY TO IMPROVE THE

QUALITY OF LIFE
Henny Kumala Sari1, Linda Riana Putri2, Fitria Mega Wardani3, Ebtabes Fianfi4
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Diponegoro University Semarang
Indonesia
INTRODUCTION
Physical activity (PA) is one of the most important things that can do
for human health. It can prevent many of the health problems that seem to come
with age. Studies have shown that physical activity provides many health benefits
and that older adults can gain a lot by staying physically active. Even physical
activity can improve the health of people who are frail or who have diseases that
accompany aging (Maciel, et all, 2016).
PA is associated with reduced risk for health conditions including
coronary heart disease, cancers, diabetes, and stroke (NICE, 2008). Despite
interventions to increase PA in the English general population, the Health Survey
for England (HSE) (2008) showed that only 39% of men and 29% of women in
England are meeting the recommended level to be considered physically active
as defined by guidance from the Chief Medical Officer; only 6% of men and 4%
of women, however, met the recommended level when PA was objectively
measured (Craig, et all, 2009).
A survey of adults in Germany revealed that 72.8% of adult women and
6.3% of adult men did not reach the recommended amount of at least 2.5 hours
per week of moderate-intensity physical activity. Additionally, one put of two
respondents (women: 48,2%, men 52.8%) stated that they did not engage in any
aporting activities. Within the adult group of participants, well-being without
physical activity (40%) was most frequently stated. Over one-third of participants
(36.4%) did not exercise for health reasons. Further barriers were : enough other
hobbies (34.3%), too exhausting (30.0%), risk of injury too high (28.6%), lack of
interest (25.7%), dislike of unfamiliar groups (22.9%), lack of company (20.0%),
no knowledge of opportunities (18.6%), attitude that physical activity are only for

younger people (15.7%), no time (13.6%), fear of inability (12.1%), and financial
reasons (10.0%) (Moschny, 2011).
Quality of life (QOL) is a broad multidimensional concept that usually
includes subjective evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of life. What
makes it challenging to measure is that, although the term quality of life has
meaning for nearly everyone and every academic discipline, individuals and
groups can define it differently. Although health is one of the important domains
of overall quality of life, there are other domains as wellfor instance, jobs,
housing, schools, the neighborhood. Aspects of culture, values, and spirituality are
also key aspects of overall quality of life that add to the complexity of its
measurement. Nevertheless, researchers have developed useful techniques that
have helped to conceptualize and measure these multiple domains and how they to
each other.
This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of physical activity to
improve the quality of life.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Physical activity is defined as bodily movement that is produced by the
contraction of skeletal muscle and that substantially increases energy expenditure
(US Department of Health and Human Services 1996). Physical activity can be
further categorised in terms of the frequency, duration and intensity of the activity.
Frequency and duration refer to how often and how long an activity is performed.
Intensity refers to how hard a person is working or the rate of energy expenditure
that an activity demands (Miles, 2007).
Physical activity can reduce resting blood pressure and increase capacity
to carry blood in the coronary arteries. Beneficial changes also occur in the lining
of blood vessels which help direct the appropriate distribution of blood in the
body. Regular physical activity can also exert beneficial effects on the bodys
capacity for forming and breaking down blood clots, and produces favourable
changes in plasma lipid profile. Physical activity is known to improve blood
glucose handling and is also associated with beneficial immunological (with the

exception of intense activities of long duration) and neurological changes (Miles,


2007).
DISSEASE OF INCORRECT PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Incorrect physical activity can cause several diseases, one of which is Low
Back Pain. Low back pain (LBP) is a major public health problem. The annual
prevalence of LBP is very high in Western countries. It was estimated to be 54%
in men and 57% in women. Many biological, mechanical, and psychosocial
factors are felt to impact low back pain. There are frequent bending, driving
industrial vehicles, working longer hours than expected, and poor support from
supervisors were associated with low back pain (Roquin, Aline Ramond et all,
2015).
Four categories of factors were considered to be potential risk factors for
subsequent LBP, the first three being related to occupational conditions. (1)
Biomechanical factors: Frequent bending (O2 hours daily), forward or sideways
or both; high physical demands, driving industrial vehicles (tractors or forklift
trucks, with exposure to whole-body vibrations) at least occasionally; driving
nonindustrial vehicles (cars, buses, or trucks, without exposure to wholebody
vibrations) more than 4 hours daily; and heavy lifting, composite criteria, more
than 25 kg at least occasionally or between 10 and 25 kg more than 2 hours daily.
(2) Organizational factors: Working more hours than officially planned; not
knowing the daily tasks at the beginning of the day; having several occupational
positions; having variable pay; working with colleagues on fixed-term contracts;
having work rate constraints, that is, production time limits or paced work or both;
having market constraints (work rate influenced by public or customers); and not
being able or allowed to stop or change the task for 10 minutes every hour. (3)
Psychosocial factors: low job decision authority, low skill discretion, high
psychological demands, low support from coworkers, and low support from
supervisors. (4) Individual factors: Age in four groups (2029, 3039, 4049, and
5059 years), height in the tallest quartile of the cohort of men, and overweight or

obesity according to the World Health Organization definition (Roquin, Aline


Ramond et all, 2015).
CONCEPT OF QUALITY OF LIFE
Quality of Life as individuals perception of their position in life in the
context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their
goals, expectations, standards and concerns (WHO, 2005).
Borthwick-Duffy (1992) has presented three perspectives on quality of
life: (a) quality of life defined as the quality of one's life conditions, (b) quality of
life defined as one's satisfaction with life conditions, and (c) quality of life defined
as a combination of both life conditions and satisfaction. These and a fourth
perspective are illustrated in Figure 1. The latter, which we will argue has
advantages over the first three, similarly depicts quality of life as a combination of
life conditions and satisfactionbut emphasises the need to take account of personal
values, aspirations, and expectations (Felce, et al, 2007).
Landesman's appeal for definition of concepts (Landesman, 1986)
suggested that there were two separate phenomena, quality of life and satisfaction
with life. One possible model is that depicted in Figure la. Quality of life is the
sum of a range of objectively measurable life conditions experienced by an
individual. These may include physical health, personal circumstances (wealth,
living conditions, etc.), social relationships, functional activities and pursuits, and
wider societal and economic influences. Subjective response to such conditions is
the domain of personal satisfaction with life. One interpretation of this model
would follow from the argument that no citizen has the right to satisfaction with
life but only the right to life and equality of opportunity. Life conditions may well
affect personal satisfaction, but neither this potential relationship nor the
subjective appraisal itself is germane to quality of life assessment. General
indicators of quality of life may, therefore, be established by the assessment of a
variety of life conditions across the population. The quality of life of a particular
individual or subgroup would be located by comparing their position to the total
population distribution (Felce, et al, 2007).

QUALITY OF LIFE DIMENSION


According WHO, quality of life is composed of six dimensions: physical
health, psychological wellbeing, level of independence, social relationships,
relationships with environmental and spiritual state. WHOQOL later made
intoinstrument WHOQOL - BREF where the dimensions are converted into four
dimensions: physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships and
relationship with the environment (WHO, 2005).
Physical health
Physical health is critical for overall well-being and is the most visible of
the various dimensions of health, which also include social, intellectual,
emotional, spiritual and environmental health
Psychological well-being
Psychological well-being is usually conceptualised as some combination
of positive affective states such as happiness (the hedonic perspective) and
functioning with optimal effectiveness in individual and social life (the
eudaimonic perspective). As summarised by Huppert (2009): Psychological wellbeing is about lives going well. It is the combination of feeling good and
functioning effectively. By definition therefore, people with high PW report
feeling happy, capable, well-supported, satisfied with life, and so on; Hupperts
(2009) review also claims the consequences of PW to include better physical
health, mediated possibly by brain activation patterns, neurochemical effects and
genetic factors.
Social relationships
Social relationshipsboth quantity and qualityaffect mental health,
health behavior, physical health, and mortality risk. Sociologists have played a
central role in establishing the link between social relationships and health
outcomes, identifying explanations for this link, and discovering social variation
(e.g., by gender and race) at the population level. Studies show that social
relationships have short- and long-term effects on health, for better and for worse,

and that these effects emerge in childhood and cascade throughout life to foster
cumulative advantage or disadvantage in health (Umberson, 2010).
Relationship with the environment
Nearly everything that a human does is in response to the environment.
Our lives are defined by what is around us and what we find in front of us,
whether this means accepting, dealing with or changing it. The shape of the land
affected where humans moved. Weather was something with which to contend.
Fire affected humans until they conquered it and herein lies the core of the
relationship. The earth affects humans, and humans affect it back, viewing
characteristics and patterns as problems and challenges, and finding a solution.
THE EFECTIVENESS BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND QUALITY
OF LIVE
Engaging in activity has been linked to health promotion and cited as a
key factor in improving quality of life. Participation in sport by groups of people
of different ages is increasing, as well as the search for different types of physical
activity. Regular physical activity has been seen as one of the most effective
initiatives to promote quality of life in populations in marked contrast to the
sedentary lifestyle that represents an important risk factor for the development of
chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The regular practice of moderate
and high levels of physical activity is positively correlated with disease prevention
and control and health promotion and is often prescribed in association with diet
and medication to treat NCDs, assisting in the motivation and adoption of healthy
habits and behaviour . Other evidence suggests that low levels of physical activity,
coupled with a modern lifestyle, is a risk factor that is as important as a poor diet
in the etiology of obesity, regardless of the body mass index or family history .
The practice of physical activity and exercise are largely related to positive
impacts on well-being, regardless of age and health status. It is also known that
regular physical activity is associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular
disease, stroke and diabetes mellitus, a reduction in risk factors of metabolic

syndromes, such as hypertension, dyslipidemy and obesity, as well as mood


improvement, including depression and anxiety (Maciel, 2013).
SUMMARY
Physical activity is one most important thing you and beneficial for physical
health, psychological and social. Physical activity should be conducted in a daily
routine with true principles that is the right frequency , the right intensity and the
right duration. Physical activity can help reduce your risk for several diseases and
health conditions and improve. Most importantly, physical activity can improve
your quality of life.

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