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Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Students worldwide have been impacted by nationwide safety closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating an environment with loss of interaction with colleagues, social isolation, boredom, and economic uncertainty. Since university students were considered uniquely vulnerable to mental health prob...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8469884/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574496 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189571 |
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author | Fila-Witecka, Karolina Senczyszyn, Adrianna Kołodziejczyk, Agata Ciułkowicz, Marta Maciaszek, Julian Misiak, Błażej Szcześniak, Dorota Rymaszewska, Joanna |
author_facet | Fila-Witecka, Karolina Senczyszyn, Adrianna Kołodziejczyk, Agata Ciułkowicz, Marta Maciaszek, Julian Misiak, Błażej Szcześniak, Dorota Rymaszewska, Joanna |
author_sort | Fila-Witecka, Karolina |
collection | PubMed |
description | Students worldwide have been impacted by nationwide safety closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating an environment with loss of interaction with colleagues, social isolation, boredom, and economic uncertainty. Since university students were considered uniquely vulnerable to mental health problems even before the pandemic, this study aimed to investigate lifestyle and behavioral changes experienced by this population due to the epidemiological situation and their effect on their mental health. Data were collected via an online survey conducted among university students across Poland. The survey addressed recent lifestyle changes that were a result of the pandemic as well as psychological distress, symptoms of insomnia and symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The results indicate that protective factors include maintaining a daily routine, staying physically active, following a usual eating pattern and taking care of sleep hygiene. Changes in behavior contributing to poorer mental health included giving up a daily routine, neglecting meals, tidiness, hygiene as well as social relationships, changes in food intake, sleeping schedule, a decrease in physical activity and the onset of sexual dysfunctions. A history of psychiatric treatment and an increase in self-harm as well as an increase in alcohol and tobacco consumption were also found to be associated with psychological distress. Experienced lifestyle and behavioral changes and their impact on mental health were apparent throughout the obtained data, highlighting the need for psychological support in the studied population. Based on the results we were able to establish a list of protective and risk factors influencing the everyday life and psychological wellbeing of students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which could also be translated into life skills. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8469884 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-84698842021-09-27 Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic Fila-Witecka, Karolina Senczyszyn, Adrianna Kołodziejczyk, Agata Ciułkowicz, Marta Maciaszek, Julian Misiak, Błażej Szcześniak, Dorota Rymaszewska, Joanna Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Students worldwide have been impacted by nationwide safety closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating an environment with loss of interaction with colleagues, social isolation, boredom, and economic uncertainty. Since university students were considered uniquely vulnerable to mental health problems even before the pandemic, this study aimed to investigate lifestyle and behavioral changes experienced by this population due to the epidemiological situation and their effect on their mental health. Data were collected via an online survey conducted among university students across Poland. The survey addressed recent lifestyle changes that were a result of the pandemic as well as psychological distress, symptoms of insomnia and symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The results indicate that protective factors include maintaining a daily routine, staying physically active, following a usual eating pattern and taking care of sleep hygiene. Changes in behavior contributing to poorer mental health included giving up a daily routine, neglecting meals, tidiness, hygiene as well as social relationships, changes in food intake, sleeping schedule, a decrease in physical activity and the onset of sexual dysfunctions. A history of psychiatric treatment and an increase in self-harm as well as an increase in alcohol and tobacco consumption were also found to be associated with psychological distress. Experienced lifestyle and behavioral changes and their impact on mental health were apparent throughout the obtained data, highlighting the need for psychological support in the studied population. Based on the results we were able to establish a list of protective and risk factors influencing the everyday life and psychological wellbeing of students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which could also be translated into life skills. MDPI 2021-09-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8469884/ /pubmed/34574496 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189571 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Fila-Witecka, Karolina Senczyszyn, Adrianna Kołodziejczyk, Agata Ciułkowicz, Marta Maciaszek, Julian Misiak, Błażej Szcześniak, Dorota Rymaszewska, Joanna Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title | Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full | Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_fullStr | Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_short | Lifestyle Changes among Polish University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_sort | lifestyle changes among polish university students during the covid-19 pandemic |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8469884/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574496 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189571 |
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