Open AccessPHYSICAL ACTIVITY OF ADULTS DURING GREEK TRADITIONAL DANCE AND TENNIS SESSIONS
Author(s) -
Danai Anastasopoulou,
Fotini Venetsanou,
Maria Koutsouba
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
facta universitatis. series: physical education and sport
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2406-0496
pISSN - 1451-740X
DOI - 10.22190/fupes200116013a
Subject(s) - dance , recreation , multivariate analysis of variance , physical activity , physical therapy , quality of life (healthcare) , psychology , medicine , gerontology , art , computer science , visual arts , machine learning , political science , law , psychotherapist
Physical Activity (PA) is connected with many health benefits and leads to a better quality of life. However, the modern way of life imposes such high levels of sedentary behaviours that physical inactivity is among the key risk factors for mortality. People’s participation in active recreational and/or exercise programmes that increase the levels of PA seems imperative if their health is to be enhanced. The aim of this study was to examine the potential differences between the PA offered by Greek Traditional Dance (GTD) and Tennis to adult participants. One hundred and two adults, aged 20 to 76 years, members of GTD (n=57) and Tennis (n=45) clubs, volunteered to participate in the study. The PA gathered during GTD or Tennis was recorded during two randomly selected sessions with Omron 720 pedometers. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was computed on the participants’ total steps (TS) and aerobic steps (AS). Statistically significant differences were found between GTD and Tennis in TS (F1,100=35.18, p 10.000 steps/day) and the finding of previous studies reporting PA accumulated during various recreational/sport activities, it appears that both GTD and Tennis can significantly help people achieve satisfactory PA levels.