Impact of a Healthy Lifestyle on the Psychological Well-being of University Students

ABSTRACT

Health can influence eating habits and also mental and social well-being. This cross-sectional study wasconducted to determine the relationship between healthy lifestyle and stress among 173 university students usingSimple Lifestyle Indicator Questionnaire (SLIQ) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Score-42 (DASS-42) tomeasure their emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. The results indicated that 71.8% werecategorized as having an unhealthy lifestyle and 28.2% an intermediate lifestyle. Based on the SLIQ stressdomain, 50.7% are stressed. Based on DASS score, 46.8% have anxiety. There was a statistically significantdifference in healthy lifestyle score between various types of residences (F=3.929, p<0.05). The conclusion isthat students with poor lifestyles have higher anxiety, depression and stress. The implication of this study is thatuniversities should provide healthy activities to encourage healthy lifestyle practices by students.