Physical Activity & Health

Physical activity and health is the study of the relationship between movement, exercise, and human wellbeing across the lifespan. It draws on exercise physiology, psychology, public health, and epidemiology to ask how physical activity affects physical and mental health outcomes, why large proportions of the population are insufficiently active, and how individuals and communities can be supported to move more. The discipline has grown in importance as the global burden of non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression has been linked increasingly clearly to sedentary lifestyles and low fitness levels.

At Edinburgh Napier University you will study this four-year full-time programme, which includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to experience how physical activity and health are approached in a different national context and to study within a different educational and public health environment. Across the programme you will examine the physiological mechanisms by which exercise produces its health benefits, the psychological determinants of physical activity behaviour and how they can be influenced, the public health evidence base for physical activity promotion, and the design and evaluation of interventions for diverse populations including children, older adults, clinical populations, and sedentary communities. The typical entry tariff is 152 points.

Graduates from physical activity and health programmes work in public health, health promotion, leisure management, sport development, rehabilitation settings, corporate wellbeing, and physical education. Roles as exercise referral specialists, health and wellbeing coaches, physical activity coordinators, and community sport development officers are all common career paths. NHS and local authority public health teams, leisure trusts, schools, and charities all employ graduates with this expertise.

Further study in public health, exercise physiology, sport and exercise science, or health psychology is a natural progression for those seeking specialist roles or research careers.