Lifestyles of students, including with disturbances in physical development during the COVID‑19 pandemic

Abstract

The article deals with issues that characterize the lifestyle of students in the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic. A number of researchers found that during this period, cases of physical and mental health disorders, non-compliance with the norms of good nutrition, a significant decrease in physical activity, changes in the physical parameters of the body, weight gain, etc. became more frequent among students. Materials and methods. An international methodology was applied to assess the structure of the students’ lifestyle – the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile Questionnaire (HLPP-II). The methodology takes into account the characteristic features of 6 integral components (responsibility for health, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, interpersonal relationships and stress management). For the purpose of comparative analysis, 505 students surveyed were divided into 3 groups depending on the body mass index: those with underweight, with normal body weight, and those with excess body weight. Findings. The results obtained made it possible to establish that among those with a deficiency or excess of body weight compared with those with normal body weight, there were significantly more students with a low level of severity of all 6 considered components of the overall level of health.