Physical activity and life quality of university professors

Abstract Background The quality of life is a subject that has been investigated in several areas of knowledge and under many approaches. Objective To investigate the practice of leisure time physical activity among university professors and to analyze its association with quality of life. Method The target population was professors of the Federal University of the Rio Grande, Brazil, who were active and worked on campus in the city of the Rio Grande in the second half of 2015. The collection was carried out by completing an electronic questionnaire. The quality of life was assessed by the instrument The Medical Outcomes Study 36- item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Data were analyzed by analysis of variance test or nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test. Results The sample included 270 participants, representing 40% of eligible professors. There were 70.4% that reported performing some physical activity in leisure time, and 43.0% (95%CI 37.0 to 48.9) were considered physically active (≥150 min/week). This group obtained the highest score for quality of life, suggesting a linear positive association between physical activity and the score of quality of life (p<0.01). Conclusions Less than half of college professors were considered physically active. There was a positive linear association of physical activity practice with higher scores of quality of life.