Dietary and Physical Activity Factors Concerning Bowel Movement Frequency among Undergraduate Students during Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study explored the association between lifestyle and bowel movement frequency among students. A cross-sectional study was employed using a structured questionnaire that was administrated via an online platform. A total of 363 participants were involved in this study, where 77.4% (n=281) were female while 72.2% (n=262) of them did not experience constipation. Further investigation found that calories, dietary fibre, drink consumption, and physical activity level were associated with bowel movement frequency. This study showed that a good nutrient intake and adequate physical activity would improve bowel movement frequency even though restricted movement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords: bowel movement; dietary intake; physical activity; COVID-19 eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.3696