engleski

The effect of students’ sedentary lifestyle' on resting blood pressure and heart rate among students

INTRODUCTION: Health can be defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. Nowadays, it is known, that due to the sitting posture in schools and universities there is a higher risk of inactivity. The purpose of this research was to examine the differences between two groups of students, the first group typically spends nearly three hours sitting, while the second group spends more than three hours, in their blood pressure values, heart rates and body mass indexes. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, participants were 129 university students (91 female and 38 male students) randomly selected from Faculty of Economics and Business University of Zagreb, Croatia, aged 19.58 ± 0.71 years in average, average hight 170.87 ± 10.33 centimeters and average body weight 71.63 ± 15.93 kilograms. Sedentary lifestyle was estimated based on questions from International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The following question was raised: "During the last 7 days, how much time did you spend sitting during weekdays?“ The answers sorted the students in two sedentary lifestyle categories, „to three hours“ and „more than three hours“. Blood pressure (diastolic and systolic), as well as the heart rate were measured using the OMRON digital sphygmomanometer, on the left hand after 5 minutes rest period while sitting down. The differences between groups were analyzed by using Student t-test and Man-Whitney Utest. Significance was set up at p<0.05. RESULTS: Even 66.67% respondents have stated that they spend more than three hours daily sitting. Average heart rate values are 86.57 ± 13.42 beats per minute, diastolic blood pressure values 77.14 ± 9.14 mm/Hg and systolic blood pressure values 123.21 ± 13.73 mm/Hg. The student group that has stated to spend more than three hours sitting has statistically had much higher values of systolic blood pressure (p <0, 010), diastolic blood pressure (p <0, 001) (not taking into account specific cycle phase in female participants) and heart rate (p <0, 024). Body mass index values are also somewhat higher at students that sit more than three hours daily, than at students that sit less than three hours, but those values aren't statistically significant (p <0, 067). DISCUSSION: The results indicate that sedentary lifestyle affects resting heart rate and Blood presaure, which reflect on other organic systems and ultimately affect the quality of life and overall health. Empirical evidence proves how people, due to the development in technology and various facilities on internet and television, spend more time sitting than being physically active. Students spend large amount of time sitting, and due to that behavior their physical condition weakens. It is crucial to change students' habits and foster them to be more active, which will have effect on improving the quality of life.

young adults ; students ; sedentary lifestyle ; blood pressure ; heart rate

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