Students: Students:

Lecturer: Lecturer: V. AndriusevičienėV. Andriusevičienė

Temporal and Regional Trends in the Prevalence of Healthy Lifestyle Characteristics: United States, 1994–2007.

• The article is from American Journal of Public Health.

• The author of article is Jonathan P. Troost, BS, Ann P. Rafferty, PhD, Zhehui Luo, PhD, and Mathew J. Reeves, PhD.

• Objectives. Authors examined temporal and regional trends in the prevalence of health lifestyles in the United States.

• Methods. They used 1994 to 2007 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to assess 4 healthy lifestyle characteristics: having a healthy weight, not smoking, consuming fruits and vegetables, and engaging in physical activity. The concurrent presence of all 4 characteristics was defined as a healthy overall lifestyle. They used logistic regression to assess temporal and regional trends.

• Participants. A total of 1455084 participants aged 18 to 74 years were included in the 7 surveys.

• Results. The percentages of individuals who did not smoke (4% increase) and had a healthy weight (10% decrease) showed the strongest temporal changes from 1994 to 2007. There was little change in fruit and vegetable consumption or physical activity. The prevalence of healthy lifestyles increased minimally over time and varied modestly across regions; in 2007, percentages were higher in the Northeast (6%) and West (6%) than in the South (4%) and Midwest (4%).

• Conclusions. Because of the large increases in overweight and the declines in smoking, there was little net change in the prevalence of healthy lifestyles. Despite regional differences, the prevalence of healthy lifestyles across the United States remains very low.

Aim

• The aim of the survey was to find out if healthy life style is important for a students and what they do to lead healthy life style of Vilnius College?

Respondents• We surveyed 100 student of Vilnius College,

90% female and 10% male and the age was bettween 18 and 22.

Method of research

• We made a survey which included of 10 main question about smoking, consuming alcohol, fruits and vegetables, and engaging in physical activity.

Do you smoke?

5% 10%

85%Yes

No

Sometimes

Do you drink alcohol?

4% 2%

94%Yes

No

Sometimes

How often do you drink alcohol?

0%4%2%

94%

I do not drink

Once a week

2-3 times perweekOnce a month

Do you do any physical excercises?

0%

30%

10%60% Yes

NoSometimes

How often do you visit to physician to check

your health?10%30%

60%

Once a twomonth

Once a halfyear

Once a year

How often do you eat fruit and vegetables?

20%10%20%

50%

Twice a week

Three times a week

Everyday

Fivetimes or evermore

How many litres of water you drink every day?

40%

37%20%

3%

More than 1.5l

About 1-1,5l

About 1l

0,5l

Findings

• The findings of our survey reveal that 99% of all students are interested in healthy living and a vast majority of students do exercises 2-3 times a week.

• 85% of respondents do not smoke and those who are smoking use to do it 5 and more cigarettes per day.

• 94% of participants consume alcohol once a month.

• A vast majority of respondents visit to physician to check their health once a half year.

Conclusion

• The conclusion of our survey is that a vast majority of students try to live healthier, do exercises as often as it possible, however, a few respondents still concume alcohol once a week.

Suggestions (1)• To sum up, we have a few suggestions

how to improve and increase not just interests of students of healthy living, but also how to encourage them to engage in productive activities, for instance, to use less of alcohol, to drink more water, eat fruits and vegetables every day and of course visit phisician not just in case they are sick, but to visit phisician regularly to check their condition of health.

Suggestions (2)

• Moreover, we therefore strongly recommend that in Vilnius College there should be a free water device which provides fresh water.

• Furthermore, we suggest to start selling various fruits and vegetables in Vilnius College canteen.

References

• http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=fd4d2308-6229-4b8a-ad2d-df12dfdb9abd%40sessionmgr198&hid=118&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=cmedm&AN=22095344

• http://exercise.about.com/od/healthinjuries/a/healthylifestyl.htm