Associations between physical activity types and reaching the physical activity guidelines: The FinHealth 2017 Study
Abstract
Physical activity (PA) guidelines for adults recommend to both aerobic and muscle‐strengthening exercise. We aimed to report prevalence of adults reaching these guidelines and further study associations of types of physical activities with the PA guidelines. In a national FinHealth 2017 Study, adults (18+ years, n = 5335) reported participation in different types of physical activities in summer and winter, in duration of moderate‐ and vigorous‐intensity aerobic PA, and frequency of muscle‐strengthening PA. Logistic regression analysis was used, adjusting for age, education, and self‐rated health, stratified into age‐groups of 18‐64 years and 65+ years by gender. PA guidelines were reached in the age‐group of 18‐64 years by 42% of men and 39% of women and in the age‐group of 65+ years by 26% of men and 20% of women. Walking, cleaning and maintenance work, and stair climbing were the most popular PA types throughout the year. Workout and muscle‐strengthening exercises were consistently associated with 3‐8 times higher odds for reaching the PA guidelines across age, gender, and season. Other PA types (eg, jogging, swimming, skiing, gardening, or stair climbing) had more varied associations with the PA guidelines across gender, age, and season. Our data suggest that only certain conditioning activity types associate with reaching PA guidelines. Findings indicate that future interventions could more specifically use information on gender and age variation in the PA types, to find solutions for low physical activity in the population.
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Physical activity improves blood sugar control through decreased inflammation, activation of insulin-independent glucose pathways, and reduced sympathetic response.
“PA is effective in treatment of diabetes and is believed to improve blood sugar control by 1) decreasing inflammation to improve insulin sensitivity, 2) activating insulinindependent glucose pathways, and 3) reducing sympathetic response”
From The Impact of Physical Activity in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes (2025) · cites this paper as [12]
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- Authors
- Wennman, H., & Borodulin, K.
- Affiliations
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Borodulin, Katja
- Venue
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-10-16
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 418-426
- ISSN
- 0905-7188 (ISSN-L)
- 1600-0838
- OpenAlex
- W3089807480
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5
- FWCI
- 1.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Life-span and Life-course Studies › Sports and Physical Education Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- physical activity guidelines, physical activity types, muscle strengthening exercises, aerobic exercise, walking, stair climbing, seasonal variation, gender differences, age differences, adults
- MeSH terms
- Stair Climbing, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Educational Status, Female, Finland, Health Status, Household Work, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Seasons, Sex Factors, Sports, Exercise, Logistic Models, Walking, Guidelines as Topic, Gardening
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