Hello again! In my last and final blog, I will be again reinstating the importance of a healthy diet. As stressed in my previous blogs, students do not assign much importance to their dietary habits which results in health related problems later on in life. In addition, it can also affect their performance at a young age in academics and their physical ability. And so, keeping this issue in mind I set out to find an experiment done which focuses both on college students and their dietary habits. The article I have chosen is titled:
" Happiness and health behaviors in Chilean college students: A cross-sectional survey" conducted Center for Health Promotion, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH).
The experiment follows 3461 students aged between 17 and 24 years old ho attended University of Santiago de Chile during 2009. They were assessed on their healthy behavior, particularly intake of vitamins and on their frequency of alcohol, cigarettes, and physical exercise. In addition, their BMIs (Body Mass Index) and stress levels were measured.
And so the question asked is What was done?
The purpose of the study was to examine the correlation between Health and Happiness. The reason I found this article interesting is because it related to my age group particularly, and examined the relationship between being healthy and being happy, two significant aspects of life which I believe go hand-in-hand. All of them were evaluated using a questionnaire which was self-reported. The age group of the students was 17 and 24 years old (mean age = 19.89; SD = 1.73) and 3461 students participated.
What were the main findings?
The findings from the research were quite interesting and unexpected. The results showed that the younger the participants (to a minimum of 17 years of age) and females, showed the highest rate of happiness and also happened to involve themselves in a higher number of physical activity's and eat a healthier diet consisting of fruits and vegetables.
Moreover, students who smoked had a higher rate of happiness versus those who used any other types of drugs and also, those who dealt with stressful situations everyday had a lower rate of happiness as opposed to those who endured stressful situations on a lower rate with a calm perspective.
How is the study relevant? What is the take-home message and what are the limitations?
Though this study focuses on Chilean college students, they are still college students nonetheless, and their eating habits perhaps match those of a college student living in North America. The study can be deemed relevant to the course content of Kinesiology 140 because it deals with students, their habits and the correlation/ramification of those habits on their everyday life and their level of happiness. The level of one's happiness can also either benefit or be detrimental to ones success in life, and therefore the importance of taking care of ones health is stressed.
The study suggests that there are two pathways when it comes to evaluating health and happiness, one which shows the outcome in any given student's academic career and one which shows the effects on their health. These are highly related to their behaviors and methods of dealing with everyday life. A take home message from this research experiment can be seen through encouraging students to take on their healthy behavior into their own hands. As seen, the younger students who participated showed higher signs of being content as opposed to their older peers. This is perhaps because of parent involvement still evident at that age. However, once a student/youth becomes older, their parent involvement dwindles and therefore they may stop making healthy choices which are in their benefit as nobody is enforcing these upon them.
A limitation seen in the experiment may be the fact that it was self-assessed. By allowing the students to evaluate themselves they may have undermined, or overestimated, their healthy habits and may have also contributed false information. In addition, the experiment did not follow students throughout a period of several years to see the outcome of their behavior on their success levels later on and/or health.
The whole experiment is not only easy to follow and understand but extremely relevant to the course. Below is a link to the full article and a video which encourages healthy behavior to ensure student success at a younger age! Enjoy!!
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