Abstract

One of the main human health affecting factors is its lifestyle, which contains diet, physical activity, usage of alcohol, tobacco and other habits. These habits are closely related and affect human health. It is crucial, to form correct habits at early age, when an individual forms his lifestyle and is at the climax of his learning abilities. Public health students, future specialists should both be prepared to solve global health problems in a modern society and lead a healthy lifestyle themselves, to cherish their own well-being and set an example, to the others. Research purpose: to evaluate Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine Public health students’ lifestyle features and physical activity. The research was carried out on March 2012. Lifestyle tendencies were examined on the basis of a questionnaire. 128 students from Medicine Faculty Public health studies program were participating in the survey. The statistic data analysis was done by using SPSS Statistics 16.0. Research results have shown that the majority (83.6%) of public health students don’t keep up with the proper diet regime; although they feed themselves 3-4 times a day. Mostly (97.7%) students tend to snack in between their regular meals. Only one fifth (20.3%) of the surveyed people eat sufficient amount of fresh vegetables. Half (50%) of students consume grain-based products every day. One third (32%) does not consume any fish or sea food. The majority of the interviewed individuals consume dietary supplements (82%), use iodized salt (69.5%) add extra salt to their regular meals (57.8%). Only a fifth (20.3%) of the students drink adequate amount of water per day. Most (75%) of the students have a normal weight; although there are more underweight females (19.3%), than males (5.3%). The majority (81.2%) of surveyed people are not physically active enough; men tend to engage in physical activity more often than women. One fourth (25%) of students are regular sports gym attenders; more often men (52.6%), than women (20.2%). Alcohol is consumed by a majority of students; men tend to indulge beer and spirits, while women tend to drink more wine. More than a half (62.5%) of the interviewed students are non-smokers. Women (33%) tend to use tobacco less often than men (63.2%). First year masters degree students tend to smoke the least (16.7%). Students, who smoke consume 1-4 cigarettes a day (66.7%). Verf.-Referat