Abstract

The change in physical habits, the appearance of sedentarism as a general tendency in developed countries, the appearance of the so called hypocinetic diseases related to this increase in sedentarism, have combined forces to study in depth, to analyze and research into the benefits that physical activity produces to better the quality of life for all citizens. The difficulty of evaluating physical activity with adequate tools, with standardized and exact methods has changed into an element of constant analysis, study and investigation. In the last few years we have developed significant refinements in the design of these questionnaires -the object of this analysis-and also in the questionnaires, so called processes of auto report, whose use has became more sophisticated. We have revised the main points: the diary, the questionnaires of memory of physical activities, the questionnaires on the history of physical activity and the so-called of general order. Finally, we considered that the various processes of auto report adapt to each type of research, to the population the object of the study and the availability of human resources and material. The works published up to now allow tor the obtaining of data of enormous interest about the relationship between physical activity and health.