Background:
Tobacco use and physical inactivity are major risk factors for NCDs. Adequate physical activities keep one healthy but sedentary life style may contribute to other unhealthy practices. There is a need to identify if and how the two risk factors are interrelated so as to address them more strategically. Thus, the present study was undertaken to assess the level of physical activity and to identify its association with tobacco use among college going youth in Chandigarh.

Methods:
Data on physical activity and tobacco use was collected from 500 students aged 18-24 years studying in different professional and nonprofessional colleges of Chandigarh during June- July 2015, through multistage simple random sampling using a self-administered questionnaire.

Results:
The study findings indicated 12.8% (n=64) were inactive, 10% (n=50) were active and 76.2% (n=381) were highly active out of the 500 individuals. Females (15.8%) were more inactive as compared to males (12.1%). Highly active respondents were seen more in 18-20 years age group (77.6%) as compared to 20-22 years age group (76.1%). In regard to relationship between physical activity and tobacco use status of the respondents in study population, it was observed that odds of consuming tobacco is significantly 0.48 times lower in active respondents as compared to inactive respondents (p value < 0.05).

Conclusions:
NCDs are emerging as a big threat among youth. Our findings indicate a significant relationship between physical activity and tobacco use among youth. (OR= 0.48; p< 0.05) Thus, promoting physical activities may be a useful educational tool for reducing tobacco use.