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Abstract

Sedentary behavior and unhealthy nutritional patterns represent main risk factors of the prevalence of overweight, diabetes type- 2 and other non-communicable diseases in modern human societies. Sedentary behavior refers to any kind of waking physical activity such as sitting or lying down, TV viewing, computer work, playing digital games, and reading that lead to the expenditure approximately around 1.5 Metabolic Equivalents of Task (MET) per hour. Recent research indicated that people spend in sedentary behavior more than half of their time during waking. In this study, we aimed to explore the prevalence of overweight, body fat and explore the nature of relationship between them and unhealthy nutritional patterns and lack of physical activity among adolescents in Oman. To achieve the goals of this study, Arab Teenage Lifestyle Questionnaire (ATLS) which assesses physical activity, sedentary behavior and nutritional patterns has been administered on a sample consisted of (855) adolescents (gender: 413 males and 442 females; ages: m =17.2; sd. 1.3). Body mass index, waist circumference and body fat were also measured using body composition analyzer device (TANITA). The results revealed that 23.8% of the participants were overweight (including obesity), while 20.7% of them where underweight. The results also explored that there were a link between sedentary behavior, overweight and body fat. Descriptive statistics showed that there were a prevalence of unhealthy nutritional patterns among the teens which may lead to increase the risk factors of acquiring type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors. These results are alarming and require a need to work on attitudes/behavioral modification through raising the nutritional awareness among teens and their families, as well as through the intensification of interest in school physical education and sports activities.

Biography

Kashef Zayed has earned his PhD from Bucharest University in 1996. He worked at the University of Jordan and Al-Salt College for Teachers in Jordan before he joined Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in 1990. He served as a head of the Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Education, SQU through 2007 to 2011. He is an international affiliate of American Psychological Association (APA) and International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP). He published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and in international conferences proceedings. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Department of Physical Education, SQU.

Email: kashefzayed@gmail.com