Background: People with knowledge of the physical activity benefits tend to be more active; however, this knowledge is usually based on the basic concept that physical activity is “good” for health.

Objectives: To assess the knowledge and practice levels towards physical activity among university students in Baghdad city, to measure the practice of physical activity, and the association between level of knowledge and physical activity behavior.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at (Baghdad, Al-Mustansiriyah, and Al-Nahrain universities) during the period from February 2023 to March 2024. In this study, (600) students were included, and data was gathered through a predesigned questionnaire containing information about socio-demographics (age, sex, income marital state, college, and grade), questions on knowledge of physical activity, and global physical activity to assess physical activity levels of college students at the assigned universities.

Results: The majority of participants (99.3%) agreed that physical activity is good for health, however, (4.9 out of 10) participants had low knowledge scores about diseases associated with physical inactivity, and nearly half of the participants (53.3%) couldn’t correctly identify the exact recommendations required for healthy physical activity. Furthermore, 69% of the participants overestimated and 19.2% correctly estimated the reduced risk of disease resulting from physical activity.

Conclusions: Male participants, older age groups, and those working while studying were significantly more physically active. Participants were significantly more physically active when identifying more diseases associated with physical inactivity. They identified recommendations for healthy physical activity and overestimated the role of physical activity in reducing the disease risk. Despite the detailed knowledge that medical students had, they were less physically active than non-medical students.

Keywords: Physical activity, Knowledge level, Practice, Good health