The Positive Effect of Physical Exercise Activities on Physical Fitness Improvement Under the National Fitness Policy Environment

Background: An increased number of chronic diseases in China has caused a major public health concern, requiring solution-focused approaches towards their prevention and management. Physical activity has been identified as an effective method to enhance physical fitness and control chronic diseases. Objective: This paper aims at establishing the relationship of physical activity and chronic disease management with an emphasis on mediating roles of physical fitness improvement and health behavior change. Methods: The participants for the study comprised 600 diagnosed chronic diseases adult patients from major hospitals and health centers in Hunan. The purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data from those patients who were physically active in the process of managing their diseases. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the collected data using IBM SPSS AMOS software. Results: The findings reveal that physical activity significantly impacts physical fitness improvement, health behavior change, and chronic disease management. Physical fitness improvement and health behavior change has positive association with chronic disease management. Conclusion: Physical fitness improvement and health behavior change also found to have significant mediation effect on the relationship between physical activity and chronic disease management. The study recommends that healthcare providers should focus on increasing physical activity and provide specific physical fitness interventions to adopt appropriate behavioral changes that can improve chronic disease status and reduce healthcare costs.