Physical education and sport as factors of health and formation of a healthy lifestyle

The article analyzes the influence of physical culture and sports on the health of the population. The author explores the behavioral factors of health and illness, using experience and examples from previous Russian and international research. The work highlights the main components of a healthy lifestyle and obstacles that prevent it from practicing, such as lack of material and time resources, lack of will, bad habits, high pace of life and work, etc. Based on the latest statistics and analysis, it is shown that there are few people leading a healthy lifestyle in Russia (from 12 to 25% according to various estimates), but there are real barriers to improving the situation. Furthermore, there is a lack of motivation among the population itself. The article focuses on the importance of adequate physical activity to preserve health. Author presents data on the share of those practicing physical education and sports in Russia and in the world, as well as the results of scientific research confirming the fact that the interest of Russians with sports activities has increased, they began to devote more time to physical development. However, it will take time to achieve the indicators typical for the countries of Northern Europe and the USA. The problem of high-performance sports, associated huge costs, its use as an effective instrument of “soft power” in world politics, dehumanization and commercialization of big-time sports and, of course, the issue of its impact on health are touched upon. It also analyzes the importance of professional sports for the development of mass sports and increasing the motivation of the population to engage in physical culture.The situation in the development of physical culture and mass sports in Russia and the involvement of the population of our country in these practices are assessed. Author analyzes interlinks between physical activity on one side and influence of socio-demographic characteristics of the population, such as gender, age, level of education and income, region of residence on the other side.The empirical basis of the work consists of data of the WHO, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) and the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), as well as the study undertaken in 2018–2019 by the Department of Sociology of Family and Demography, Faculty of Moscow of Sociology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (2489 respondents) “Interregional studies of life values and nontransitivity of family and child orientations among women, men and married couples on the basis of crosscutting analysis of comparable data” (SEDOZH)