Purpose of the Chapter

Apuntes

Purpose of the Chapter In this introductory chapter, we provide a background about physical activity for health on which to judge and assess the role of behavioural and psychological factors that we will discuss in detail in later chapters. Specifically, in this chapter we aim to: • provide a brief history of the field of physical activity for health; • explain the behavioural epidemiology and ecological frameworks, and introduce the ‘systems’ approach; • define key terms; • provide a brief synopsis of human evolution and history that is relevant to current physical activity and health behaviours in contemporary society; • highlight recent guidelines on the type and amount of physical activity required for health; • review the prevalence and trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviour; • introduce the concept of physical activity psychology. Following this introductory chapter, we then divide the book into the following sections: • II: Physical Activity and Mental Health • III: Physical Activity Correlates and Theories • IV: Physical Activity Behaviour Change • V: Sedentary Behaviour • VI: Conclusions. Many forms of physical activity are healthy! As a result we ...