Health resorts as gateways for regional, standardised, sports club based exercise programmes to increase the weekly time of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity: study protocol

Background More than 10 % (approximately 60,000) of the adult population in Styria, a federal state in the south of Austria, is granted a residential stay in a health resort each year. The target group for these stays is the general population aged between 30 and 65 years with minor symptoms such as risk factors for cardio-metabolic diseases. Stays are financed by health insurance companies and last up to three weeks. The treatment during the stays consists of exercise and nutritional intervention as well as psychological support when needed. However, because of the absence of regional programmes linked with the residential stay, the sustainability of the interventions is questionable.