Association between Knowledge of the Recommended Physical Activity Guidelines and Physical Activity Levels among Adults

Background Physical activity has enormous health benefits reduces risk of mortality and morbidity due to Non communicable diseases Studies conducted in India provides information about factors affecting activity levels. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have been reported on assessing the knowledge about guidelines in India.Individuals can change their behaviour from considering being active to really participating in the necessary amounts of physical exercise by being aware of the guidelines.This study aimed to know the association between knowledge of the recommended physical activity guidelines and physical activity levels among adults Methods Approval from Institutional review committee obtained for study and an observational cross sectional study design of adult aged 18-44 years residing in Bengaluru, India was conducted. A self -developed questionnaire using modified Delphi process to explore knowledge about recommended guidelines and International physical activity level questionnaire to assess self-reported activity level were sent via social media platform for participants who provided consent for participation in the study. Results Among 398 participants only 48.87% of total participants were able to identify the correctly recommended guidelines. Spearman’ co relation between physical activity level and awareness showed 0.072 indicating no relationship between awareness about guideline and physical activity level among the participants. Conclusion The results provide that future studies should systematically evaluate physical activity level and detail analysis of the factors that affect or influence the knowledge and activity levels to improve communication strategies to enhance awareness about the recommended guidelines and to increase participation of adults in physical activity levels to enhance health benefits.