Assessing University Students' Physical Activity Levels in Terms of Different Variables

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing physical activity levels of university students who studied at Van Yuzuncu Yil University in terms of different variables. 20 students who studied at School of Physical Education and Sports (SPES) (10 female students and 10 male students) and 20 students who studied at Education Faculty (EF) (10 female students and 10 male students) participated in the study voluntarily. The steps took during the day were measured by bio-electric impedance method and data about their nutrition, sleep, residence and internet use have been collected via information form and then this information was evaluated. Whether or not data followed a normal distribution was assessed and Non-Parametric Mann Whitney U Test was used for assessments. According to findings; average number of students’ daily steps was 11063±2198 in male students while it was 10308±1829 in female students. There was no significant difference in terms of academic schools where the students attended (p>0.05) whereas there were significant differences in terms of sex variable among male students of SPES and EF as compared to female students in the parameters of BMI, body fat ratio and residence place (p<0.05). Besides, there were also significant differences in the number of weekly steps among students of both schools in terms of doing sports variable (p<0.05). However; no statistically significant differences were found in terms of students’ internet use, daily sleep length, transportation to schools and number of weekly total steps (p<0.05). As a result, it was noted that physical activity levels of the female and male students were “active” according to literature criteria and average number of daily steps of those students who regularly did sports was high as expected