Abstract:

Nowadays, the learning process at school has a sitting and low-moving character, and as a result of technological advances, students have reduced physical exertion and physical activity levels. But biologically, the human body is designed to move constantly. Physical activity positively influences the body's full functioning, determines the physical and mental development and well-being of a person. Well-being is an essential condition for students' self-satisfaction, their performance in and out of school and life in general, and for establishing positive relationships with others. Students’ well-being is the result of the interaction of four different but closely related dimensions. These are the physical, psychological, social and cognitive dimensions. The physical dimension of students’ well-being relates to students’ health and the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. It is greatly facilitated by physical activity and wholesome nutrition. The physical dimension includes various aspects of students’ well-being related to health and physical condition. Physical activity can have a positive effect on the development of the child's body, but a lack of physical activity is an important factor that reduces the potential for positive change and affects all systems of the body.
The aim of the research: to evaluate the structure of well-being, to emphasize its physical dimension, and to study the students’ opinion about the influence of the aspects of physical dimension on the development of students’ well-being. Research methods: theoretical methods: research and analysis of scientific literature, documents; analysis of research by other authors; empirical research method: questionnaire; research data processing and analysis methods - descriptive and inferential statistics, visual graphical representation of data and correlation analysis method. In the theoretical part of the research, scientific and methodical literature (monographs, scientific and methodical articles), documents and research of international organizations, planning documents of the Republic of Latvia have been analyzed. The Internet search engine Google and the international databases Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect and EBSCO were used for the selection of literature, according to keywords relevant to the research.
The results of the research show that the well-being of students is largely influenced by aspects related to the physical dimension of well-being - satisfaction with their body, state of health, ability to be active. The majority of students are aware of the importance of physical activities in promoting the quality of human life, development of wellbeing, but only a third part of students engage in physical activities more than are required by mandatory school requirements. In order to promote the active lifestyles of children and young people, it is necessary to encourage them to engage in different physical activities. The results of the research show that the active involvement of students in physical activities is facilitated by a friendly atmosphere in classes, a fun, passionate trainer, music-accompanied training, modern premises, training with new, modern equipment. One of the ways to reduce and overcome psychological stress, regain emotional balance and promote wellbeing is to focus on a variety of physical activities – walking or running, practicing in one of the sports, or attending fitness sessions, swimming pools, dance lessons.

Keywords:

Physical activities, physical dimension, psychological stress, students, quality of life, well-being.