INTRODUCTION: There is currently a strong scientific evidence about the negative health consequences of physical inactivity. One of the potential tools for promoting physical activity at the institutional level of the Ecological model is to create conditions and settings that would enable pupils, students and employees engage in some form of physical activity. However, physical activities as a subject are being eliminated from the study programs at Slovak universities. The purpose of the study was to find current evidence about the level of structured physical activity and health-related variables in university students in Košice. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The sample consisted of 1,993 or, more precisely, 1,398 students who attended two universities in Košice. To collect data, students completed a questionnaire and were tested for body height, body weight, circumferential measures and percentage body fat. RESULTS: The university students did not sufficiently engage in a structured physical activity. A large number of students had either low or high values of percentage body fat and BMI and high WHR values. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have shown that the research into physical activity of university students should receive more attention.

UVOD: Trenutno imamo na voljo zelo trdne znanstvene dokaze o negativnih telesnih posledicah zaradi telesne nedejavnosti. Eno izmed morebitnih orodij za promocijo telesne dejavnosti na institucionalni ravni Ekološkega modela je ustvarjanje pogojev in okolja, ki omogoča učencem, študentom in zaposlenim vključevanje v določeno telesno dejavnost. Na univerzah na Slovaškem se telesne dejavnosti kot predmet izločajo iz študijskih programov. Namen študije je raziskovanje trenutnih dokazov o ravni strukturirane telesne dejavnosti in spremenljivk, ki so povezane z zdravjem pri študentih v mestu Košice. GRADIVO IN METODE: Vzorec je vključeval 1.993, ali natančneje 1.398 študentov, ki obiskujejo obe univerzi v mestu Košice. Zbiranje podatkov je potekalo v obliki vprašalnika, ki so ga študenti izpolnili, ter testiranja za pridobivanje podatkov o telesni višini, telesni teži, obodnih vrednosti in odstotka telesne maščobe. REZULTATI: Univerzitetni študenti se ne vključujejo v strukturirane telesne dejavnosti v zadostni meri. Visoko število študentov ima prenizke ali previsoke vrednosti za odstotek telesne maščobe in indeks telesne mase ter visoke vrednosti pri razmerju med pasom in boki. ZAKLJUČEK: Ugotovitve nakazujejo, da bi morali raziskovanju telesne dejavnosti univerzitetnih študentov posvečati več pozornosti.

• Keywords
• Body mass index, Physical activity, Waist-hip ratio, percentage body fat, university students,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

BACKGROUND: Our goal was to investigate the effect of short term exercise on fasting and postprandial lipoprotein profile. METHODS: Healthy sedentary men exercised 20 min for four days. The intensity of exercise was modulated to maintain 75-80 % of a calculated HRmax. Before and after the exercise program, fasting and postprandial (4 h after standard meal) concentrations of lipoprotein subfractions were measured by an electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel and total concentrations of TAG, LDL and HDL by enzymatic colorimetric method. After 2 days of rest, fasting and postprandial concentrations of lipoprotein fractions and subfractions were measured to determine a persistency of a changes in the lipoprotein profile. RESULTS: 4 days of physical exercise led to statistically significant decrease of concentration of triacylglycerol in fasting (76.29 ± 20.07, 53.92 ± 10.90, p < 0.05) and postprandial state (139.06 ± 23.72, 96.55 ± 25.21, p < 0.05) VLDL in fasting (21.88 ± 3.87, 18.00 ± 3.93, p < 0.05) and postprandial state (23.88 ± 3.52, 19.25 ± 3.62, p < 0.05), total cholesterol in fasting (162.26 ± 23.38, 148.91 ± 17.72, p < 0.05) and postprandial state (163.73 ± 23.02, 150.08 ± 18.11, p < 0.05). Atherogenic medium LDL decreased also in fasting (9.89 ± 3.27, 6.22 ± 2.55, p < 0.001) and postprandial state (8.88 ± 6.51, 6.88 ± 5.57, p < 0.001). However decrease of large IDL (25.38 ± 3.54, 23.88 ± 3.91, p < 0.05) and large LDL particles (42.89 ± 11.40, 38.67 ± 9.30) was observed only in postprandial state. Total HDL concentration remained unchanged but we observed statistically significant decrease of small HDL particles in fasting (6.11 ± 2.89, 4.22, p < 0.05) and postprandial state (6.44 ± 3.21, 4.56 ± 1.33, p < 0.05). Concentration of these particles are associated with progression of atherosclerosis. All changes of fasting and postprandial lipoprotein profile disappeared after 2 days of rest. CONCLUSION: Just 4 daily settings of 20 min of physical exercise can lead to significant positive changes of fasting and postprandial lipoprotein profile.

• MeSH
• Cholesterol blood   MeSH
• Exercise MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Lipoproteins blood   MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Fasting blood   MeSH
• Postprandial Period MeSH
• Sedentary Behavior MeSH
• Triglycerides blood   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Cholesterol MeSH
• Lipoproteins MeSH
• Triglycerides MeSH