Assessment of Dietary Habits, Physical Activity and Lifestyle in Medical University Students

Lavinia-Maria Pop, Magdalena Iorga, Iulia-Diana Muraru and Florin-Dumitru Petrariu
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Lavinia-Maria Pop: Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 700554 Iasi, Romania
Magdalena Iorga: Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 700554 Iasi, Romania
Iulia-Diana Muraru: Behavioral Sciences Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T. Popa”, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Florin-Dumitru Petrariu: Preventive Medicine and Interdisciplinarity Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T. Popa”, 700115 Iasi, Romania

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: A busy schedule and demanding tasks challenge medical students to adjust their lifestyle and dietary habits. The aim of this study was to identify dietary habits and health-related behaviours among students. A number of 403 students (80.40% female, aged M = 21.21 ± 4.56) enrolled in a medical university provided answers to a questionnaire constructed especially for this research, which was divided into three parts: the first part collected socio-demographic, anthropometric, and medical data; the second part inquired about dietary habits, lifestyle, sleep, physical activity, water intake, and use of alcohol and cigarettes; and the third part collected information about nutrition-related data and the consumption of fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, and sweets. Data were analysed using SPSS v24. Students usually slept M = 6.71 ± 1.52 h/day, and one-third had self-imposed diet restrictions to control their weight. For both genders, the most important meal was lunch, and one-third of students had breakfast each morning. On average, the students consumed 1.64 ± 0.88 l of water per day and had 220 min of physical activity per week. Data about the consumption of fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, sweets, fast food, coffee, tea, alcohol, or carbohydrate drinks were presented. The results of our study proved that medical students have knowledge about how to maintain a healthy life and they practice it, which is important for their subsequent professional life.

Keywords: student; medical studies; dietary habits; sleep; physical activity; lifestyle; health; nutrition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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