Quality of Life: Physical Activity and Fitness in adult women. A descriptive study

There is great interest in the psychological benefits that people derive from physical activity (PA). Regular PA helps to maintain adequate physical fitness (PF) and quality of life (QOL), however, there is little scientific literature focused on mature adulthood. The aim of this research was to analyse whether there are cross-sectional relationships between PA and PF with QOL levels in a group of middle-aged women enrolled in physical exercise programmes, from a group of 88 women in the province of Cordoba with a mean age of 53.85 years. PF was recorded by measuring height and weight and the Senior Fitness Test battery (SFT) was used; the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to measure the level of PA, and the SF-36 Health Ques-tionnaire was used to determine the level of QoL. The results showed that age, BMI, PF, PA and PA behaviour were predictors of the SF-36 physical component explaining 39% and of the mental component explaining 46% of its variability. These results are dis-cussed in relation to previous research on QoL and PA and PF arguing that good levels of QF are necessary to maintain health and QoL also in the years of the life cycle that we call mature adulthood.