• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.140-147
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• 2021

Background: For generations, cigarette smoking has presented an important public health concern. This study aimed to compare the health-promoting behavior, exercise capacity, physical activity level, health literacy, and knowledge level of smoking-related diseases between smokers and non-smokers. Methods: The study included 71 smokers (mean age, 32.69±8.55 years) and 72 non-smokers (mean age, 31.88±9.94 years) between the ages of 20 and 60 years. Assessments included a 6-minute walking test (6MWT), Godin Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire, Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II), Cardiovascular Risk Factors Knowledge Level Scale (CARRF-KL), Asthma/COPD Awareness Questionnaire, the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref questionnaire (WHOQoL-Bref [TR]), and Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Results: The results from the study show that the number of coronary artery disease risk factors measured significantly higher among the smoker group members when compared to that of the non-smoker group members (p=0.001). Smokers had significantly lower %6MWT distance than non-smokers (84.83±4.72 and 93.45±7.16, respectively; p<0.05). However, there were no significant differences between the smokers and non-smokers in terms of physical activity, CARRF-KL, HLQ, WHOQoL-Bref, and HPLP-II subscales or total scores (p>0.05). Additionally, while only forty-one smokers (57.7%) were active, 48 of the non-smoker group was active (66.7%). Conclusion: Smokers suffer greater negative effects to their exercise capacity in comparison to non-smokers. Although smokers and non-smokers have similar levels of health literacy and similar levels of knowledge about cardiovascular disease risk factors and obstructive lung diseases, health professionals could continue to further increase individuals' awareness of smoking-related risk factors and continue to emphasize the importance of physical activity and exercise for protecting cardiopulmonary health.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.305-314
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• 2009

Objectives : The physical activity of Korean adolescents and its distribution based on social characteristics have not yet been fully assessed. This study intends to reveal the distribution of physical activity by its subgroups and offer possible explanatory variables. Methods : The 3rd Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey was analyzed for this study. The appropriateness of physical activity was defined by Korea s Health Plan 2010 and physical inactivity was assessed independently. Family affluence scale, parents education levels, subjective economic status, grade, and school location were considered explanatory variables. All statistical analysis was conducted using SAS ver. 9.1. Results : The proportion of participants engaging in vigorous physical activity was high in males (41.6%), at a low grade (38.5%), within the high family affluence scale group (35.5%). The distribution of participants engaging in moderate physical activity showed similar patterns, but the overall proportion was lower (9.8%). Low family affluence and students with lower subjective economic status reported a higher prevalence of physical inactivity. In multiple logistic regression analysis for physical activity, significant factors included family affluence scale (p<0.05). For physical inactivity, family affluence scale, parents education levels, and subjective economic status were included as significant factors (p<0.05). Conclusions : The results suggest that the physical activity and inactivity of adolescents may be affected by socioeconomic variables, such as family affluence scale. This implies the need to take proper measures to address these socio-economic inequalities.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.235-240
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• 2004

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Food and Nutrition Board in conjunction with Health Canada recently released the sixth in a series of reports on dietary reference values for the intake of energy and macronutrients. This paper discusses the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for energy and physical activity. Several new approaches were used with the DRIs for the macronutrients. Those discussed in this paper include: $.$Estimated Energy Requirements (EER) at four levels of energy expenditure based on doubly labeled water measurements of total energy expenditure (TEE). $.$Recommendations for levels of physical activity to decrease the risk of chronic disease.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.109-119
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• 2016

Objectives: To review policy contents which can have a direct impact on health-enhancing physical activity(PA) prevalence in Korea. Methods: The web-search and a literature was undertaken to identify reports and documents related to policy contents of PA. The web-search mainly focused on the web site of the departments and organizations relevant to PA policy and was supplemented by the literature searching. Results: The results of this study are as follows: First, the goal of PA does not match the established number of the Health Plan(HP). Second, the recommended levels of PA is not the same as levels of the year of establishment of the HP. Third, the questions of monitoring tool were inconsistent across years. Conclusions: Therefore, policy contents of physical activity should be improved to ensure accurate PA prevalence in Korea.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.187-197
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• 2023

The study aims to identify factors related to landscape structure and socioeconomic characteristics that influence adults' physical activity and health. The study analyzes data from 148,643 respondents from the Korea Community Health Survey conducted in 2021. The study measures various factors, including the frequency of physical activity, stress, depression, and landscape metrics of forest patches. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. Larger forest patches and more irregular shapes are associated with higher levels of physical activity among adults. The percentage and area of the forest patch are associated with fewer mental health complaints. Configuration-related landscape metrics such as shape or arrangement of the forest patch did not show a significant association with physical activity. Overall, the study provides insights into how specific characteristics of forest patches in urban areas may influence physical activity and mental health among adults. It emphasizes the importance of green spaces and their potential positive effects on both physical and mental well-being.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2018

Purpose: Many Korean college students suffer from physical inactivity and mental health problems. However, it has not been sufficiently reported how this lack of exercise and health-related behavior affect their health. The present study was performed to identify the relationships among physical activity level, health-promoting behavior, and physiological variables in Korean undergraduate and graduate students. Methods: Participants were 115 undergraduate and graduate students from one university in Seoul. The Pearson's correlation analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows. Results: Physical activity level had significant positive correlations with health-promoting behavior (r=.32, p=.001) and exercise self-efficacy (r=.25, p=.008), and health-promoting behavior had a significant correlation with depression (r=-.33, p<.001) and exercise self-efficacy (r=.44, p<.001). Additionally, physical activity level had significant correlations with triglyceride (r=-.20, p=.034) and vitamin D (r=.20, p=.029) levels. The high density cholesterol level had significant negative correlations with systolic blood pressure (r=-.33, p<.001), diastolic blood pressure (r=-.29, p=.002), and vitamin D (r=-.20, p=.035) levels. Conclusion: Physical activity level or health-promoting behavior had significant relationships with the health status of college students. Strategies need to be developed to improve health-promoting behaviors among college students.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.242-249
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• 2019

Objectives: Elderly individuals with diabetes should maintain a normal body mass index (BMI) to help control their blood glucose levels. This study investigated barriers to physical activity (PA), self-efficacy to overcome those barriers, and PA self-efficacy among elderly individuals with diabetes in relation to BMI. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 56 participants. Data were collected by a questionnaire interview and direct measurements for anthropometric data. PA self-efficacy was measured using 8 questions describing different levels of PA, where participants rated the strength of their belief that they could engage in that activity. Self-efficacy to overcome barriers was measured using 10 questions capturing participants' confidence in their ability to engage in PA despite different possible barriers. Mean scores for these parameters were analyzed using the chi-square test and the independent t-test. Results: In total, 89.3% of participants had a low PA level and 58.9% had more than 3 hours of sedentary activity per day. Furthermore, 55.4% were obese and 14.3% were overweight. The mean scores for PA self-efficacy and self-efficacy to overcome barriers were $59.1{\pm}26.4$ and $52.5{\pm}13.8$, respectively. PA level was related to BMI (p<0.001; r=0.116) and sedentary activity (p<0.05; r=0.274). PA self-efficacy and age were not related to BMI. Barriers to PA were associated with PA levels (p<0.05). Conclusions: Physical inactivity was a major problem in elderly individuals with diabetes, and was correlated with higher BMI. Lower levels of PA might be mediated by sedentary activity.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.400-406
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to examine joint position senses and muscle activity in subjects with and without chronic low back pain and to determine the effects of different types of bridge exercises on their trunk muscle activity. Methods: Thrity-eight subjects with chronic low back pain and thrity healthy controls participated in the experiment. Joint position senses and trunk muscle activity levels were measured during the different bridge exercise methods. Results: The joint position senses of the healthy group and chronic low back pain group showed significant differences during lumbar flexion, lumbar extension, lumbar lateral flexion, and lumbar rotation. The muscle activity levels of the transversus abdominis (TrA), internal oblique (IO), and external oblique (EO) were highest in the prone bridge exercise (PBE) group, followed by the supine bridge swiss ball exercise (SBSE) group and supine bridge exercise (SBE) group in order of precedence. The muscle activity level of the erector spinae (ES) was highest in the SBSE group, followed by the SBE and PBE groups in order of precedence. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that chronic low back pain is associated with declines in joint position senses and that PBEs increase trunk muscle activity more than conventional bridge exercises.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.505-518
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• 2015

The purpose of the study is to investigate the occupational difference of Vitamin D deficiency according to the level of physical activity and the level of stress. For this purpose, We performed empirical approaches and adopted KNHANES 2008~2013 dataset, to which were applied such methods as crosstabulation analysis, logistic regression and SOBEL test. As a result, we found that Vitamin D deficiency was higher in the group of people with indoor-working-job than in the group of people with out-door working job. Besides, Vitamin D deficiency tends to increase in the people with lower physical activity and higher stress experience. As a result, those employees highly related with in-door activities must be ensured that they need to be exposed to sunlight on a regular basis. Moreover, improving the physical activity levels of employees could be one of appropriate solutions to alleviate Vitamin D deficiency problems. Besides, lowering stress levels in workplace needs to be seriously considered in order not to drop the physical activity levels of workers.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.307-313
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was to the investigate recognition of physical activity between physical therapy students (PTS) and non-physical therapy students (NPTS) by measuring the level of physical activity using International Physical Activity Questionnaires (IPAQ). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed by 191 university students. The IPAQ with an additional question (Is physical activity necessary for your future job?) was used to evaluate the recognition and the amount of physical activity. The collected data were calculated as MET-minutes scores and were classified as walking, moderate, and vigorous level of physical activity. The students were analyzed by dividing them into those who had a part-time employment (16 PTS and 12 NPTS) and those who did not have a part-time employment (80 PTS and 83 NPTS). Results: In students with a part-time employment, no significances were observed between the PTS and NPTS, in terms of MET, frequency and time of physical activity, and sitting time (p>0.05). In students without a part-time employment, the NPTS was significantly higher than the PTS for the MET and frequency of physical activity in a vigorous level (p<0.05), and there were no significant differences in other levels of physical activity (p>0.05). In the additional question, the PTS showed a slightly higher than the NPTS (p<0.05). Conclusion: The physical therapy students did not remarkable barrier to recognition of physical activity, but there was a difference in their recognition of the vigorous level of physical activity. Therefore, the understanding of physical activity for PTS would play an important role in the recognition of how physical activity can be promoted.