Understanding and influencing physical activity to improve health outcomes

Participation in physical activity is associated with significant benefits to health. We provide an overview of research relevant to understanding and influencing health-enhancing physical activity in adults. We describe a behavioural epidemiology framework that is designed to integrate the range of studies in the field; give brief examples of studies on the relationships between physical activity and health outcomes; and, we consider descriptive studies of adult populations on levels of participation. We describe research findings on the correlates of physical activity participation; describe ecological models of health behaviour that may be used in understanding and influencing physical activity; and, we review research findings on how environmental attributes can influence adults’ physical activity, particularly walking. There is considerable potential to use evidence-based approaches to increase the physical activity levels of whole populations, particularly through a focus on developing the attributes of community environments that can promote walking.