Students university healthy lifestyle practice: quantitative analysis

Abstract

The development of human being passes through several transition phases throughout the life span. The most critical phase that may influence the individuals’ lifestyle is the college admission. During this phase, the students are independent and they are responsible for their own lives especially if they are far away from parental home. A healthy lifestyle is identified by regular exercises, healthy diet, and organized sleeping pattern. However, the transfer into a new environment may alternate the usual habits and cause major fluctuations in lifestyle. The students may be vulnerable to several stressful factors including inability to organize time, stress of exams and deadlines, irregular sleeping pattern, new peer’s relationships, and inability to accommodate with the new surroundings. These factors may result in decreased level of physical activity and increased consumption of fast food that may lead to changes in body weight. The exposure to these changes in lifestyle may influence the well-being of individual and overall health. The aim of this study is to focus on the lifestyle of university students including the level of physical activity and type of diet followed and how it affects their weight. The result of our study, showed most of the students do not follow a certain diet, do not consider their food choices healthy and would like to take more care about their health. This is mostly due to the fact that they don’t exercise as much as they like to.

Introduction

A healthy lifestyle is a major determinant of individuals’ health status. Young adults may face difficulties in maintaining healthy lifestyle due to exposure to higher levels of stress in college and later on in the working field. It has been evidenced that two-thirds of students gained weight during the first year at university due to stress, unhealthy diet, and reduced physical exercises. Students may spend hours on their cell phones or computers using internet, reading, and writing. Thereby, they are less likely to be motivated toward physical activities and as a result the risk of weight gain increases.

Following healthy diet and daily exercises are both important for a healthy lifestyle. They improve individual’s performance at college, enhance wellness, reduce stress, and improve self-confidence. Time organization is the key element to specialize some time for exercising. College campuses must create an environment to motivate students to join sports teams that encourage individuals to do exercising. Also, healthy food must be provided in college cafeterias to insure safe and healthy diet for students.

Literature review

A study was conducted and it shows that 50% to 80% of students gain weight during freshman year and the average weight gain of these students ranges from 5 to 10 lbs [1]. The average weight gain differs between males and females. Males may gain weight up to 4.2 kg while females may gain weight up to 1.9 kg by the end of first semester [2]. Several factors may contribute to the fact that students are gaining weight while attending college. Studying during the night, eating unhealthy snacks, consumption of fast food, alcohol intake, and irregular sleeping pattern may lead to weight increase. The type of food consumed is unhealthy and mainly concentrated with high fats and sugar which increase weight rapidly. As per WHO, being overweight is a main risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and some types of cancer such as breast and colon cancer (as cited in [3]).

Although research shows that most of students gain weight at the beginning of college, some students may lose weight in contrast. The schedule of classes and work change daily and students may skip meals when they are overwhelmed with their heavy workload and studying [4]. Studies emphasize that eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are more likely to occur in college females [4]. Consequently, poor performance during the academic years may result from unhealthy diet consumed which may affect the psychological wellbeing.

Regular exercises and physical activities are also essential for individuals’ physical and mental health. Performance of exercises may avoid chronic diseases including cardiac problems, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, joints pain, obesity, and many other diseases [4]. Moreover, it improves the immune system and enhance normal sugar levels in blood [4]. WHO recommend from adults to perform at least 150 min per week of moderate physical activity (walking, climbing, or dancing) or at least 75 min per week of vigorous physical activity (running, fast swimming, or playing sport) [5]. Lack of time and being overwhelmed with the assignments and exams may impede the regular performance of exercises. Another reasons for this decline include lack of exercise facilities and low priority of exercise [3].

Data description

The data were collected from students in the Health Science faculty at a private university in Lebanon. The number of students in the faculty of health sciences is 507 students.

Sample size, n = 100 students, was chosen randomly from this faculty as enough for the population based on the sample size formula.

The data were analyzed using SPSS 24.

The variables that we used for the goal of this study, are as follows:

Variable name	Values
Age in years	1 = 18–23, 2 = 24–29, 3 = 30–35, 4 = 36–41
Activity level	1 = sedentary, 2 = moderately active, 3 = very active
Exercise	1 = yes, 2 = no
Days of exercise per week	Number
Following a diet	1 = yes, 2 = no
Food choices, healthy or not	1 = yes, 2 = no
Satisfaction with own lifestyle	1 = yes, 2 = no, 3 = would like to take more care about my health
Weight	1 = overweight, 2 = underweight, 3 = borderline, 4 = healthy
Factors that prevent exercising	1 = time, 2 = laziness, 3 = body injury, 4 = other
Rating overall health	1 = bad, 2 = good, 3 = very good, 4 = excellent

Research methodology

We use survey to collect data from 100 students, 50 males and 50 females. Our research questions are:

1. Research question: the values expected at the beginning of the study will not differ significantly from the values gathered after the study.

   Test Statistics: Chi-Square

2. Research question: is there a relationship between exercising and the satisfaction with one’s own lifestyle?

   Test statistics: Chi Square test for association—cross tabs

3. Research question: do 60% of the population usually exercise?

   Test statistics: binomial test

4. Research question: do people who follow a certain diet tend to exercise more?

   Test statistics: Mann–Whitney U-test

5. Research question: is there a relationship between the level of activity and the weight?

   Test statistic: non parametric correlation—Spearman

6. Research question: is there a relationship between the weight and how people rate their health?

   Test statistics: non-parametric correlation—Spearman

7. Research question: is there a relationship between food choices and how people rate their overall health?

   Test statistics: Chi Square test for association—cross tabs

8. Research question: do 25% of the population consider their food choices healthy?

   Test statistics: binomial test

Descriptive statistics—for categorical variables

Age

How old are you?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
18–23	49	49.0	49.0	49.0
24–29	42	42.0	42.0	91.0
30–35	6	6.0	6.0	97.0
36–41	3	3.0	3.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

49% are in the range of (18–23), 42% (24–29), 6% (30–35), 3% (36–41)

Activity

How active are you?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
Sedentary	15	15.0	15.0	15.0
Moderately active	52	52.0	52.0	67.0
Very active	33	33.0	33.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

15% are sedentary, 52% are Moderately Active, and 33% are Very Active

Exercise

Do you usually exercise?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
Yes	52	52.0	52.0	52.0
No	48	48.0	48.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

52% usually exercise while 48% don’t

Diet

Do you follow a certain diet?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid
Yes	18	18.0	18.0	18.0
No	82	82.0	82.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

82% do not follow a diet, while 18% do

Food choices

Do you consider your food choices healthy?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
Yes	54	54.0	54.0	54.0
No	46	46.0	46.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

54% consider their food choices healthy, while 46% don’t

Lifestyle satisfaction

Are you satisfied with your lifestyle?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
Yes	26	26.0	26.0	26.0
No	12	12.0	12.0	38.0
Would like to take more care about my health	62	62.0	62.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

26% are satisfied, 12% are not, while 62% would like to take more care about their health

Weight

What about your weight?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
Overweight	16	16.0	16.0	16.0
Underweight	9	9.0	9.0	25.0
Borderline	32	32.0	32.0	57.0
Healthy	43	43.0	43.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

16% are overweight, 9% are underweight, 32% are borderline, and 43% have healthy weight

Factors that prevent exercise

What factor stops you from exercising?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
Time	52	52.0	52.0	52.0
Laziness	30	30.0	30.0	82.0
Body Injury	3	3.0	3.0	85.0
Other	15	15.0	15.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

52% chose time, 30% chose laziness, 3% have body injuries, and 15% have other reasons

Rating overall health

How would you rate your overall health?

	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
Bad	5	5.0	5.0	5.0
Good	73	73.0	73.0	78.0
Very Good	18	18.0	18.0	96.0
Excellent	4	4.0	4.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

73% rated their health as good, 18% as very good, 5% as bad, and 4% as excellent

Days of exercise per week

Statistics

How many days do you exercise per week?
N
Valid	100
Missing	0
Mean	1.88
Std. error of mean	0.169
Median	2.00
Mode	0
Std. deviation	1.689
Variance	2.854
Range	6
Minimum	0
Maximum	6
Sum	188

How many days do you exercise per week?
	Frequency	Percent	Valid percent	Cumulative percent
Valid
0	25	25.0	25.0	25.0
1	23	23.0	23.0	48.0
2	23	23.0	23.0	71.0
3	11	11.0	11.0	82.0
4	8	8.0	8.0	90.0
5	6	6.0	6.0	96.0
6	4	4.0	4.0	100.0
Total	100	100.0	100.0

Stem and leaf plot

H0

Data is normally distributed

Ha

Data is not normally distributed

Days of exercise per week

The p value (sig) is 0.000 < α = 0.05 → reject H0 and Accept Ha

Inferential statistics

Research question

The values expected at the beginning of the study will not differ significantly from the values gathered after the study.

Test statistics: Chi-square

We suppose that the majority chose time as the factor that stops them from exercising (50%), and that 35% chose Laziness, 5% chose body injury, and 10% have other reasons.

We want to test whether the observed proportions from our sample differ significantly from the hypothesized proportions.

What factor stops you from exercising?

	Observed N	Expected N	Residual
Time	52	50.0	2.0
Laziness	30	35.0	− 5.0
Body injury	3	5.0	− 2.0
Other	15	10.0	5.0
Total	100

Test statistics

What factor stops you from exercising?
Chi Square	4.094a
Df	3
Asymp. Sig.	0.251

^a0 cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 5.0

p-value is 0.251 > α = 0.05 → Accept H0

These results show that the factors chosen in our sample do not differ significantly from the hypothesized values that we expected at the beginning of the study.

Research question

Is there a relationship between exercising and the satisfaction with one’s own lifestyle?

Test statistics: Chi square test for association—cross tabs

Two variables

• Do you usually exercise?

• Are you satisfied with your lifestyle?

Null Hypothesis There is no relationship between the two categorical variables.

Alternative Hypothesis There is a relationship between the two categorical variables.

Do you usually exercise? * Are you satisfied with your lifestyle? Cross tabulation

			Are you satisfied with your lifestyle?			Total
			Yes	No	Would like to take more care about my health
Do you usually exercise?	Yes	Count	19	3	30	52
		Standardized residual	1.5	− 1.3	− 0.4
	No	Count	7	9	32	48
		Standardized residual	− 1.6	1.4	0.4
Total		Count	26	12	62	100

According to the Pearson Chi Square, we can observe that the p-value is 0.015 < 0.05 Reject H0

Therefore, we should accept the alternative hypothesis, which means that there is a significant relationship between the two categorical variables. In other words, we can say that people who usually exercise are more satisfied with their lifestyle than those who don’t.

Research question

Do 60% of the population usually exercise?

Test statistics: binomial test

Variable Do you usually exercise?

Null Hypothesis 60% of the population usually exercise.

Alternative Hypothesis The sample population that usually exercises is not 60%

The p-value is 0.064 > α = 0.05 → Accept H0

A one sample Binomial Test was used to determine whether the proportion of people who usually exercise was 60%. According to the results, we accept H0. This means that 60% of the population usually exercise.

Research question

Do people who follow a certain diet tend to exercise more?

Test statistics: Mann–Whitney U-Test

Two Variables

• Dependent variable Days of exercise

• Independent variable Do you follow a certain diet?

Null Hypothesis People who follow a certain diet, tend to exercise more.

Alternative Hypothesis People who follow a certain diet, do not exercise more.

Ranks

	Do you follow a certain diet?	N	Mean Rank	Sum of Ranks
How many days do you exercise per week?	Yes	18	67.03	1206.50
	No	82	46.87	3843.50
	Total	100

This table shows that people who follow a certain diet have a higher mean rank than those who don’t follow a certain diet.

Test statistics

How many days do you exercise per week?
Mann–Whitney U	440.500
Wilcoxon W	3843.500
Z	− 2.727
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)	0.006

Grouping variable: do you follow a certain diet?

The p-value is 0.006 < α = 0.05 → Reject H0

We can conclude that people who follow a certain diet do not necessarily tend to exercise more.

Research question

Is there a relationship between the level of activity and the weight?

Test statistic: non parametric correlation—Spearman

Two Variables

• How active are you?

• What about your weight?

Null Hypothesis There is a relationship between these two variables.

Alternative Hypothesis There is no relationship between these two variables.

The p-value is 0.546 > α = 0.05 → Accept H0

The results suggest that there is indeed a relationship between the level of activity and the weight status.

Research question

Is there a relationship between the weight and how people rate their health?

Test statistics: non-parametric correlation—Spearman

Two variables

• What about your weight?

• How would you rate your overall health?

Null Hypothesis There is a relationship between the weight status and how people rate their health.

Alternative Hypothesis There is no relationship between the weight status and how people rate their health.

The p-value is 0.00 < α = 0.05 → Reject H0

The results suggest that there is no relationship between these two variables. The weight status does not influence the way people rate their overall health.

Research question

Is there a relationship between food choices and how people rate their overall health?

Test statistics: Chi square test for association—cross tabs

Two Variables

• Do you consider your food choices healthy?

• How would you rate your overall health?

Null Hypothesis There is no relationship between food choices and rating the overall health.

Alternative Hypothesis There is a relationship between food choices and rating the overall health.

Do you consider your food choices healthy? * How would you rate your overall health? Cross tabulation

			How would you rate your overall health?				Total
			Bad	Good	Very Good	Excellent
Do you consider your food choices healthy?	Yes	Count	1	35	15	3	54
		Standardized residual	− 1.0	− 0.7	1.7	0.6
	No	Count	4	38	3	1	46
		Standardized residual	1.1	0.8	− 1.8	− 0.6
Total		Count	5	73	18	4	100

The p- value is 0.016 < α = 0.05 → Reject H0

This means that we accept the Alternative Hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between the two variables. In other words, the way people choose their food affects the way they rate their own overall health.

Research question

Do 25% of the population consider their food choices healthy?

Test statistics: binomial test

Variable Do you consider your food choices healthy?

Null Hypothesis 25% consider their food choices healthy

Alternative Hypothesis The sample population that consider their food choices healthy is not 25%

The p-value is 0.0 < α = 0.05 → Reject H0

This binomial test was conducted to determine whether people considered their food choices healthy. According to the results, we reject H0, which means that the sample population that consider their food choices healthy is not 25%.

Conclusion

According to our survey, the majority of students do exercise however, they do only 1–2 days a week which classifies them as moderately active and this is what the majority of students chose in the survey.

Most of the students do not follow a certain diet, do not consider their food choices healthy and would like to take more care about their health. This is mostly due to the fact that they don’t exercise as much as they like to.

One of our studies showed that people who usually exercise tend to be more satisfied with their lifestyle habits. Since most of the students do not exercise regularly then it makes sense that they are not satisfied with the lifestyle they follow and would like to change that to the better.

We would suggest that time would be the reason behind this and this is what students actually chose as the factor that prevents most of them to exercise.

Students, and at this phase of their life, are caught up in their jobs and university work which prevents them from finding the time to take care of their health and be more active.