Lifestyle of students of the Universidad del Atlántico: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The concept of lifestyle can be understood as a series of behaviors of habitual practice -that are conscious and voluntary- performed by an individual and whose effects can affect - negatively or positively - his quality of life.

Methods: A questionnaire, called <<Fantastic>>, was applied in order to know the lifestyle of university students. This questionnaire encompass aspects related to their family and friends, associativity and physical activity, nutrition, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, sleeping time, stress, work, personality type, health control, introspection, sexual activity and other behaviors. A quantitative design, descriptive type and cross-sectional methodology was considered, whose unit of analysis was 404 university students (57.9% male and 42.1% female), in the 2018-2 semester.

Results: A tendency of the sample towards the bad indicators was notorious (46.8%) and there is a risk (31.7%), which shows that the lifestyle of university students -mostly - is not really healthy. Likewise, a relationship between the unhealthy lifestyle and the male sex is notorious, since this is principally present in the totalities that indicate bad (27.8%) and high risk (24.7%).

Conclusion: It is important - through the Sport Initiation Lecture - to guide university students towards healthy lifestyles by promoting physical activity, healthy eating habits, stress management guidelines and the knowledge of chronic non communicable diseases in order to make them aware of the importance of having healthy habits that guarantee their well-being and health.