Screen viewing, BMI, cigarette smoking and sleep duration in Belgrade university student population: Results of an observational, cross-sectional study

Resumen

Questions under study / Principles

     Having in mind the findings of other authors, we considered of scientific importance to investigate the relationships between times spent on screen viewing and studying, BMI, smoking, and sleep duration in 24 hour period in university student population.

Methods

An observational, population-based, multi-site, cross-sectional epidemiologic study was conducted during 2009/10 school year, at The University of Belgrade. 734 randomly selected students were interviewed using an anonymous, structured questionnaire.

Results

Statistically significant differences between male and female students were detected in sleep duration (p<0.05), average number of meals per day (p<0.01), time spent on studying (p<0.05), and average time spent on social networking sites (p<0.01). Also, average time spent on TV, and daily time spent on social networking sites were higher in smokers than in non-smokers  (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Non-smokers had higher daily number of meals (p<0.01). No statistically significant correlation was found between screen viewing behaviors and BMI (p>0.05). Also there was no correlation between sleep duration and leisure time activities (p>0.05).

Conclusion

Gender remains an important determinant that influences the level and the rate of sedentary behaviors. Our study also suggests that nicotine consumption influences sleeping habits, by reducing sleep duration and perhaps modulating the quality of certain aspects of sleep. Moreover, our findings indicate that cigarette smoking might be related to various other behavioral characteristics