Work 52 (2015) 441–446 DOI:10.3233/WOR-152130 IOS Press 441 To be or not to be physically active: Insights for a real chance to have an appropriate body mass in a sample of teachers Andrey J. Serra a,∗ , Wellington F. Brito a , Ednei L. Antonio b , Eduardo T. Santana c , Danilo S. Bocalini d , Luis F.N. dos Santos b , Alessandro M. Deana a , Caroline Sobral de Melo Rambo c , Paulo de Tarso Camillo de Carvalho c , Jos´ e A. Silva Jr c and Paulo J.F. Tucci b a Programa de P´ os-gradua¸ c˜ ao em Biofotˆ onica Aplicada as Ciˆ encias da Sa´ ude da Universidade Nove de Julho (Uninove), S˜ ao Paulo, Brazil b Departamento de Medicina, Universidade Federal de S˜ ao Paulo, S˜ ao Paulo, Brazil c Programa de P´ os-gradua¸ c˜ ao em Ciˆ encias da Reabilita¸ c˜ ao da Universidade Nove de Julho (Uninove), S˜ ao Paulo, Brazil d Programa de P´ os-gradua¸ c˜ ao em Educa¸ c˜ ao F´ ısica da Universidade S˜ ao Judas Tadeu, S˜ ao Paulo, Brazil Received 11 December 2012 Accepted 13 May 2014 Abstract. BACKGROUND: Studies on the relationship between physical activity (PA) and being overweight/obese are inconclusive. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of excess body weight (EBW) and its association with daily PA level in a sample of 1506 Brazilian teachers. METHODS: The PA level was analyzed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and EBW was categorized as a body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m 2 and called ‘overweight’. Chi-squared test and odds ratios (OR) were applied in the analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of persons who were overweight was lower as a function of higher PA levels and higher PA levels resulted in a lower prevalence of overweight for men and women, respectively. The authors found that for men, moderate (OR: 1.69; P = 0.03) and high (OR: 2.57; P = 0.002) PA levels were predictive for being in the normal body mass index (BMI) range. In women, a greater association of being in the normal BMI range was reported only for a moderate PA level (OR: 1.43; P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Higher daily PA levels are associated with being in the normal BMI range. To date, these findings will have important public health implications for an effective plan for the prevention of weight gain in Brazilian teachers. Keywords: Health promotion, lifestyle, professor 1. Introduction Being overweight or obese are major risk factors for several diseases such as metabolic syndrome and cancer [1, 2]. Despite this adverse association between excess body weight (EBW) and health, reports from epidemi- ological studies have documented that the incidence of being overweight or obese continues to increase rapidly in several regions of the world [3, 4]. ∗ Address for correspondence: Andrey Jorge Serra, Rua Araurari 159, Postal Code: 03650-040 - S˜ ao Paulo, SP, Brazil. Tel.: +55 11 2023 0381; Fax: +55 11 5083 3735; E-mail: andreyserra@ gmail.com. From a public-health perspective, the prevention of weight gain as well as increasing the number of people who are defined as being in the ‘appropriate’ weight range are urgent needs [5]. Studies on the relation- ship between physical activity (PA) and body weight have found that a lower PA level is associated with an increased risk of EBW [6, 7]. However, there are some limits regarding the existence of a beneficial rela- tionship between PA and EBW: (1) there are findings showing no well relationship between PA level and EBW [8] or associations only in subsets of the sam- ples [9, 10]; (2) the association between PA and EBW has been shown to be stronger only for women [11] or 1051-9815/15/$35.00 © 2015 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved