Selected factors differentiating the forms of physical activity taken up or expected by the students of PSW in Biała Podlaska

In view of new civilizational challenges of the 21st century, health promotion and education encouraging active participation in physical recreation, which should be implemented at all levels of education, within family, peer environment and local environment, become issues of particular importance. The research was carried out in the summer of 2013 and included 572 students of John Paul II State School of Higher Education in Biała Podlaska (PSW), of such degree courses as Tourism and Recreation, Public Health, Nursing, Rescue Medicine and Computer Science. The method used in the research was a diagnostic survey based on International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The aim of the study was to get to know the differentiation between the forms of recreational physical activity taken up and expected by the students of PWS and their gender, BMI and self-assessment of physical fitness. Basing on the results of the analysis it was concluded that the abovementioned independent variables have significant impact on the forms of physical activity chosen and expected by the surveyed. Studies of the literature on the subject and the results of our previous research entitle us to conclude that university students, who in the near future will constitute the intellectual elite of the country, should be aware of the influence of physical activity on general health, the importance of healthy lifestyle and their role in promoting healthy attitudes. However, the research showed that the students are not ready to perform such tasks, therefore the actions preparing them to lead a healthy lifestyle need to be intensified