**5. Conclusion**

This chapter demonstrated that there is a need to advocate for increases in physical activity and decreases in sedentary behavior. It is believed that a multi-level, multi-sectorial approach is required for this to be successful. This contribution brings some comparative findings in the European context and enriches the previous literature about lifestyle and education possibilities for improving health status and desirable behavior in contemporary population.

Society is now under media pressure, which demands that everybody take good care of their bodies without respecting individual possibilities and limits faced by every individual. Our task is to educate people to take qualified measures to improve their health and accept themselves the way they are. Success and socio-economic prosperity can be achieved only by a healthy society. A healthy society is composed of healthy individuals who recognize their own value, who accept themselves and who work on their own growth and development with their own individual limits. Regular physical activity brings numerous health benefits, such as reduced risks of cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer (e.g., breast and colon) and diabetes. It also helps to maintain the optimum body weight, improves the blood lipid profile, the digestive tract function and mental health (reduces stress, increases self-esteem and self-control and ability to concentrate) and boosts the body's immune system. Physical activity also helps to control already existing health problems (e.g., diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels), and it is important for maintaining physical, mental and cognitive health in older age people. There is a link between physical activity and life expectancy physically active people tend to live longer than inactive ones. On the other hand, insufficient physical activity, along with poor eating habits, leads to an increase in obesity in the population and unhealthy life.

The best way to live healthier is to have reasons to move (instead of using escalators to go upstairs, instead to buy sweet cookies and drinks in school vending machine to bring fruit and vegetable from home, instead of going by the car as transport to the school and leisure activities to use bike or to walk, instead to sitting in front of the TV or computer for hours to move outsides for 1 h).

Another foundation for the improvement of lifestyles relies on some more conscious behavior supported from the government (less opportunities and more difficulties buying alcohol drinks, tobacco and other drugs, by breathing fresh air,

**65**

provided the original work is properly cited.

Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

\*Address all correspondence to: lidafialova@seznam.cz

*Health Education and Lifestyles in the Czech Republic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77364*

for healthy life in all generations).

**Acknowledgements**

quality of Life."

**Author details**

Ludmila Fialova

by eating and drinking valuable and low-cost food and drinks, by using a variable type of movement and inexpensive leisure activities and also by providing education

Young generation is highly perceptive to the adoption of values, attitudes, and behaviors, which are offered by social environment. Therefore, it is very important in which social surroundings young people grow up. It is evident that the basis for possible changes to the health lifestyle is the revision of basic life values for a young generation.

We would like to thank all participants of the original studies that contributed

Prague, Olomouc and Brno, adults participated in questioning of "Self-concept and,

The realization of the study was supported by the scientific branch development

data to this chapter (pupils at basic school in Plzen, university students from

program FTVS UK "Social sciences aspects of human movement studies" at the

Charles University Prague as the part of project PROGRES n. Q19.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Health Education and Lifestyles in the Czech Republic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77364*

by eating and drinking valuable and low-cost food and drinks, by using a variable type of movement and inexpensive leisure activities and also by providing education for healthy life in all generations).

Young generation is highly perceptive to the adoption of values, attitudes, and behaviors, which are offered by social environment. Therefore, it is very important in which social surroundings young people grow up. It is evident that the basis for possible changes to the health lifestyle is the revision of basic life values for a young generation.
