Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 9:10:971268.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.971268. eCollection 2022.

Benefits of active life in student experiences during COVID-19 pandemic time

Saša Pišot  1 , Ivana M Milovanović  2 , Darko Katović  3 , Sunčica Bartoluci  3 , Sandra S Radenović  4
Affiliations

Benefits of active life in student experiences during COVID-19 pandemic time

Saša Pišot et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to extreme global consequences. In this paper, changes in the basic segments of students' everyday life and their subjective perception are investigated. The research was conducted in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. The application of the mixed method was performed to provide breadth and depth of understanding of students' responses to lifestyle changes. The research was conducted in two phases: a quantitative, using an online survey (N = 1,053), from April 15th to April 28th 2020, and a qualitative, using semi-structured interviews (N = 30), from June 10th to July 27th 2020. Students showed similar responses to the measures, but it turned out that the response in that population was different when their gender and study program were taken into account. The results suggest that students of study programs that are not "health-related" were more sensitive to change in habits than students of "health-related" study programs, but generally changes are visible in sleep patterns (going to bed late and waking up 60 to 80 min earlier). At the same time, the time spent in front of screens increased, from M = 4.49 (SD = 2.72) hours to M= 8.27 (SD = 3.44) hours during Covid-19, not only due to the transition to e-learning, but also due to a "stay at home" measure. Furthermore, students were less physically active, there was a decrease in exercise by 20 min (SD = 86.52) and a decrease in walking (M = 54 min, SD = 103.62) per day, and what is positive is that they were able to maintain the recommended amount of physical activity. The research contributes to the understanding of social consequences of extraordinary measures in students as young, healthy and highly educated social actors, as well as deeper insight into everyday strategies they undertake to counter or adapt to the new situation.

Keywords: daily routine; eating habits; epidemic emergency measures; sleep habits; studying; the youth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Changes in eating habits and other habits – female students.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Changes in eating habits and other habits – male students.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chesser A, Drassen Ham A, Keene Woods N. Assessment of Covid-19 knowledge among university students: implications for future risk communication strategies. Health Educ Behav. (2020) 47:540–3. 10.1177/1090198120931420 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Viner RM, Russell SJ, Croker H, Packer J, Ward J, Stansfield C, et al. . School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including Covid-19: a rapid systematic review. Lancet Child Adolescent Health. (2020) 4:397–404. 10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30095-X - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Who Director-General's Opening Remarks at the Media Briefing on Covid-19 - 11 March 2020. Available online at: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera... (2020). (accessed March 11, 2020).
    1. World Health Organization . Who Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Dashboard. Available online at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity (2020). (accessed July 13, 2022).
    1. Matthewman S, Huppatz KA. Sociology of Covid-19. J Sociol. (2020) 56:675–83. 10.1177/1440783320939416 - DOI

Publication types