Samenvatting

Insufficient physical activity or being inactive is one of the leading risk factors for non-communicable diseases worldwide. Globally between 6-10% of premature mortality, caused by non-communicable diseases, could be avoided if people adhered to general physical activity guidelines. Besides that, studies link sitting for prolonged periods of time with many serious health concerns. The solution seems simple: Stand up and move forward. However, human behavior is difficult to change – due to the multitude of impacts via social, physical and policy environments. Furthermore, for young people avoiding non-communicable diseases might not be the most pressing matter in their lives. Therefore, efforts to promote healthy ageing and an active lifestyle are nested in recent programs worldwide to reduce inactive behaviors and help individuals and communities to age healthier. These programs are not focused only on individual behavior choices but also on factors that influence those choices. Therefore, using Social–Ecological (SE) models that recognize the multiple influential factors at multiple levels is becoming more common. This paper explains some of the challenges related to these integrated approaches, introducing a larger range of actions, as well as tailoring programs at the population level. Lack of physical activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodological physical exercise can save it and preserve it