Português

Abstract

This article evaluated the level of physical activity and the sedentary lifestyle, trying to answer the following problem: Is sedentarism a harmful factor for the health and productivity of the Military Police belonging to the 22nd CIPM? In this context, a field survey was conducted in the 1st Platoon of this Company, to know the current physical condition and to correlate with the existing obesity. Descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative research was used as methodology, and the data collection was done through the IPAQ questionnaire, adapted short version, BMI calculation and abdominal circumference measurement. The sample was chosen by calculating simple random sampling for finite populations. It was verified that 66% of the Military Police officers interviewed are sedentary or insufficient. It was also possible to establish that 80% of the group studied had a body mass index above the ideal, and 62% of the sample had a high abdominal circumference. The results revealed the prevalence of sedentary lifestyle, obesity and high abdominal circumference, demonstrating a high risk of developing some types of diseases. The research was shown to be very important given the expressiveness of the negative results, and further studies are needed to deepen the theme and the elaboration of a program to accompany and encourage physical activities as a way to reduce this phenomenon.