Active Environment and Behaviour

Evidence suggests globally that more than 80% adolescent and 20% of adults cannot meet the global recommendation of physical activity set by the WHO [WHO, 2015]. The prevalence of the physical inactivity of people varies in different age group and different places. Many factors are associated with the physical inactivity of people, out of which the most important factor is the environment. Environment plays crucial roles in determining the physical activity of people (Roschel et al. 2020). The epidemic of physical inactivity has been increased in recent years. Mostly the children and the aged people are more prevalent to the epidemic of physical activity. The level of physical activity of children has been reduced during the recent year because of providing them with the facilities of online education. The UK is reported to have a high rate of physical inactivity which develops many health complications in people (Biernat and Piątkowska, 2020). There are some places in the UK such as Manchester and Birmingham, that show that the ever-increasing rate of the epidemic of physical inactivity. The WHO report has stated that in these two places the rate of physical inactivity in case of children and aged people is higher than that in any other places in the UK. Evidence suggests that the cost of inactivity is the development of much critical health condition that enhances the mortality and morbidity in people. Recent WHO report has shown that in the UK physical inactivity is the potential reason behind the obesity in children and cardiovascular disease in young and aged people (Vancampfort et al. 2019). UK government has taken effective initiatives to minimise the rate of physical inactiveness such as promoting the health awareness campaign, providing free health education to people residing in the semi-urban and rural areas and conducting the physical activity promotion campaign. While it comes to discuss the physical inactivity in people, the environment in which the people reside must be considered. Evidence suggests that the environment is the major contributing factors in physical inactivity of people. The ecological model of the physical activity shows that the environment influences the factors that are associated with physical activity of people, such as behaviour, social factors, community and relationship of people with the neighbours. As mentioned by Cheval et al. (2018), people residing in the lower economic environment are lack of proper foods, walking areas, schools, universities and gathering places which reduces the scope of doing physical activities. There are many criticisms regarding the concept. Many theorists have argued that in recent years people residing in the high-class environment are more likely to be inactive as they are involved in less hard work and lead a; lethargic lifestyle. However, the environment plays a crucial role in determining the behaviour and lifestyle of people. Children who are grown-up in a well-constructed environment in which there are many parks, as well as recreational facilities, have strong physical and mental health. On the other hand, children who are grown up in a community of environment in which there is lack of transport facilities, no recreational facilities and playgrounds, children are more likely to spend the times at their homes and school. As mentioned by Gomes et al. (2017), people built the environment based on their needs such as building, parks, clubs, schools and roads. Environment influence the daily activities of people which is associated with physical health. Evidence suggests that people who reside in such environment in which there are lack of transportation, less walking areas, lack of any gathering places and playground, are unable to undergo proper physical activities in regular wise (Tcymbal et al. 2020). On the other hand, the environment also influences the behaviour and relation of people with a neighbour which also impact on physical activities. In the UK, there are many places such as rural and semi-urban areas Birmingham, in which people spend most of their times at the homes and offices and they lack any kind of gathering or interaction with friends, which impacts on the physical activities. Especially, the women and aged people face difficulties to have proper physical activities as they reside in an environment in which there is no proper communication and transportation system, society club, gathering places and recreational facilities. In the UK, the majority of women and aged people, diagnosed with obesity and overweight is are the outcomes of their physical inactivity. As mentioned by Ricci et al. (2020), the environment influences the lifestyles and the way people interacted with an external environment that impacts on their physical health. For example, in the interior areas of Birmingham and Manchester the majority of the people residing in such an environment in which they lack proper transportation, walking places, recreational facilities, parks, gym and supermarket. Therefore, in these places people especially women spend most of their times sitting at their home without doing any physical activities. Evidence suggests that the environment pose potential impacts on the several factors that are associated with risk of physical inactivity. These factors are poor transportation lack of communication with neighbours, lack of positive behaviour, improper and irregular lifestyles and poor quality of living. These factors make people more vulnerable toward physical inactivity (Douma et al. 2017). Through using the Large-scale top-down approach, the overall impacts of the environment can be evaluated in a national and international level. In the national level, there are many people residing in the interior and lower economic environment who cannot access proper places to do their regular physical activities such as proper walking places and playground and park. In many places in Birmingham, there is a lack of proper school, gym, colleges and walking places which makes it difficult for the people residing in these areas to be involved in the proper physical activities. As mentioned by Masanovic et. al. (2018), not only in the rural and interior areas of Manchester and Birmingham, there are many high society places which are congested with large buildings and apartments rather than having a garden, walking places and recreational places. Evidence suggests that physical activity in people is dependent on which environment they are residing in. It is evident that the environment that has greeneries, garden area, playground and society compound, provide good opportunities to the people to do proper physical activities. In Manchester, there are more than 45% of people who suffers from cardiovascular disease, pulmonary illness and the respiratory illness which are considered to be happened due to their physical inactivity. Here Margaritis et al. (2020) opined that people residing in the low-income environment do not have the times and economic ability to affair gym facilities. Ever the children and women residing with the low-income environment are exposed to the high chances of obesity and overweight due to their lack of systematic physical activities. UK government has taken effective initiatives such as health awareness campaign and the free health education to the people residing in the interior and lower economic environment to make them aware of the importance of the regular physical exercise. On the other hand, Health Service Executives (HSE) are also appointed for checking the ever-increasing number of physical inactivity in some areas of the UK such as Birmingham and Manchester. By collecting database on the physical activity of people residing in these areas, HSE sends the data to the officials of Public of Health (PHE) who then set the proper measure in dealing with the issues of physical inactivity in people [Douma et al. 2017). UK government also has conducted the health awareness campaign for women and children in the poor family, in which they are encouraged for doing the regular exercise which can assist them to get good health and wellbeing. There are also the imitations of the individual motivation strategy that needs to be overcome while dealing with client physical inactivity. One of the limitations is that the individual motivation process is highly time-consuming which can irritate both the client and the health professionals while evaluating the level of physical inactivity of the client. As stated by Margaritis et al. (2020), while supporting the individual client health professional and the trainers can face issues of lack of time management. On the other hand, while dealing with the individual client it is important to analyse the health issues, any health complication and the lifestyles of the client which have contributed to physical inactivity in the client. Therefore, individual motivation strategy can be highly troublesome for the professional. On the other hand, the fairs contributing to the physical inactivity is different in case of different people, For example, in case of people with COPD, professional need to train them to do aerobic exercise that will improve their blood supply to the lung (Douma et al. 2017). On the other hand, in case of a patient with gastrointestinal disease, there are different kind of exercise that is specific to the particular health condition, therefore, while dealing with the individual client professional must ensure that they execute the current health condition and medical history of patients before recommending the physical activities to them. Another potential limitation that professional can experiences while dealing with the individual client is the lack of information regarding client’s lifestyle, health condition and genetic history that is important to determine the contributing factors of client’s physical activity. Sometimes professional lack of t cooperation and support from the client that they need to get the detailed information regarding the client's health, which is important to recommend the right physical activities. The ecological model of behaviour change can be used in this essay to describe the relationship between the physical activity of an individual and his or her astounding environment (González et al. 2017). Based on the concept presented in this model that, a person has a different level of imprecation with its surrounding environment such as social, political, emotional, physical and psychological interaction. These interactions make potential changes in the behaviour and activities of people. This is why children which grown up in a systematic and well-disciplined environment are more likely to develop the good habits of regular physical activities that the children growing up in an environment which lack the systematic lifestyle. social interaction of the people with their surrounding environment is based on the changing perception, social trend and the changing cultural values of people. It is evident that people residing in an environment which has creatives and positives cultural values ae more likes to be habituated to the physical activities as they develop good habits of doing regular exercise from childhood. On other hand, people residing in such as the environment in which they face the discrimination, poor health facilities and unsupportive culture, are more likely to be physically inactive as they could not develop the good habits of regular physical activities. As argued that Boukabache et al. (2021), economic mode; although highlight the relation on people with their surrounding environment it lacks the discussion of associated factors that contribute to the development of physical inactivity in people. Many critics this model also argued that this model cannot be used in the modern environmental context, as t only focus on one dimension that is the relationship between t environment with individuals rather than considers the other factors that also affect impacts of environment on physical activities of people such as economic stability, lifestyle and the quality of living. From the above-mentioned discussion, it can be concluded that the environment influences the physical activity of people. Some factors influence the impact of the environment on physical activity. These factors are the lifestyle of people, their food habits, socio-economic condition and their interaction with the external environment. Environment plays crucial roles in setting behaviour and habits in people. The environment which has good communication, park, garden, playground, society compound and walking places are useful for people to do regular physical activities. Physical inactiveness is due to the environment in which people do not get the facilities to do physical activities. Therefore, the environment is the major factors that impacts the physical activeness of people.

Dig deeper into Active Environment and Behaviour with our selection of articles.

Reference list:

Biernat, E. and Piątkowska, M., 2020. Sociodemographic Determinants of Physical Inactivity of People Aged 60 Years and Older: A Cross-Sectional Study in Poland. BioMed Research International, 2020.

Boukabache, A., Preece, S.J. and Brookes, N., 2021. Prolonged sitting and physical inactivity are associated with limited hip extension: a cross-sectional study. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 51, p.102282

Cheval, B., Sieber, S., Guessous, I., Orsholits, D., Courvoisier, D.C., Kliegel, M., Stringhini, S., Swinnen, S., Burton-Jeangros, C., Cullati, S. and Boisgontier, M., 2018. Effect of early-and adult-life socioeconomic circumstances on physical inactivity. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 50(3), pp.476-485.

Douma, J.G., Volkers, K.M., Engels, G., Sonneveld, M.H., Goossens, R.H. and Scherder, E.J., 2017. Setting-related influences on physical inactivity of older adults in residential care settings: A review. BMC geriatrics, 17(1), pp.1-10.

Gomes, M., Figueiredo, D., Teixeira, L., Poveda, V., Paúl, C., Santos-Silva, A. and Costa, E., 2017. Physical inactivity among older adults across Europe based on the SHARE database. Age and ageing, 46(1), pp.71-77.

González, K., Fuentes, J. and Márquez, J.L., 2017. Physical inactivity, sedentary behavior and chronic diseases. Korean journal of family medicine, 38(3), p.111.

Margaritis, I., Houdart, S., El Ouadrhiri, Y., Bigard, X., Vuillemin, A. and Duché, P., 2020. How to deal with COVID-19 epidemic-related lockdown physical inactivity and sedentary increase in youth? Adaptation of Anses’ benchmarks. Archives of Public Health, 78, pp.1-6.

Masanovic, B., Vukotic, M., Bjelica, D. and Popovic, S., 2018. Describing physical activity profile of older Montenegrin males using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). In Book of Abstracts 15th International Scientific Conference on Transformation Process in Sport “Sport Performance (Vol. 61).

Ricci, F., Izzicupo, P., Moscucci, F., Sciomer, S., Maffei, S., Di Baldassarre, A., Mattioli, A.V. and Gallina, S., 2020. Recommendations for physical inactivity and sedentary behavior during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Frontiers in public health, 8, p.199.

Roschel, H., Artioli, G.G. and Gualano, B., 2020. Risk of increased physical inactivity during COVID‐19 outbreak in older people: a call for actions.

Tcymbal, A., Andreasyan, D., Whiting, S., Mikkelsen, B., Rakovac, I. and Breda, J., 2020. Prevalence of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior among adults in Armenia. Frontiers in Public Health, 8.

Vancampfort, D., Byansi, P., Kinyanda, E., Namutebi, H., Nalukenge, L., Bbosa, R.S., Ward, P.B. and Mugisha, J., 2019. Associations between physical inactivity, major depressive disorder, and alcohol use disorder in people living with HIV in a Ugandan fishing community. International journal of STD & AIDS, 30(12), pp.1177-1184.