Study of the Kind and Time of Occupational and Leisure Physical Activities Among Employed Women in Faculties of Iran University of Medical Sciences

The amount of time women spend for occupational and leisure physical activities is varried, i.e. they spend less time for leisure physical activities and the related factors than for occupational physical activities. In order to determine the kind and time of occupational and leisure physical activities in employed women, a cross-sectional study was carried out and data was gathered through questionnaire. Selected through a stratified and random sampling method, 300 women were the contributers of this study whose height and weight were measured by the researcher. The findings indicated that the mean time of occupational physical activities during one week was 42.7 hours which had a significant relationship with age, marital status, education, body max index(BMI), income, kind of job and the type of occupational physical activities(P=0.000). This means that the mean time in women who are between 30-39 years old, educated, employed and are with BMI of 120-25 and low income was more than others. No significant relationship was found with factors such as, smoking and the age of the last child. Results also indicated that mean time for leisure activities during the week was 16.68 hours and women spent only 9.1 hours for leisure physical activities. The mean time of leisure physical activities had a significant relationship with income and age(P=0.000), i.e. the mean time was more in women with 30-39 years of age and good income. This study showed that mean leisure time was less than occupational time and also the leisure physical activities was very little.