INFLUENCE OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FACTORS ON THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ HEALTH

Abstract

The aim is to analyze the factors that affect the students’ health both positively and negatively and to evaluate the real health status of Ukrainian student youth. Materials and methods: The research was conducted at Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University and University of State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, 647 students of the 1st – 4th years of study were examined. To study both negative and positive factors, we conducted a survey of the students of different genders of several education departments, using original questionnaires. To analyze the results of the students’ self-assessment of their health state, the methodology of V. P. Voitenko, which contains 27 questions that characterize the most important aspects of well-being, mood, activity, sleep quality, pain senses and lifestyle of students, was applied. Results: It was determined that the most important factors for the preservation of health included nutrition, physical activity, active leisure, sleep, love and sex. 56.3 % of male students and 49.9 % of female ones indicated that motor activity is of great importance for health care. The students stated that the most dangerous health factors included drug use, radioactive contamination of the environment, smoking, alcohol abuse, stress, etc. It was found that the highest percentage of students had satisfactory and poor health levels – 44.8-54.9 % and 17.8-29.5 % respectively. Conclusions: A wide range of specific components of the educational process and the healthy lifestyle of students can have different effects on life. Lifestyle is one of the many factors that affect students’ health. The students’ self-assessment of their health state lets to manage the educational process of physical education efficiently, allocate physical activity and apply individual tasks rationally.