THE WAY OF HAVING MEALS AS A COMPONENT OF A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE FOR STUDENTS

Abstract

Introduction. A healthy lifestyle and healthy nutrition as one of the main components of a healthy lifestyle are important components of health-saving behavior of students. Objective: to establish the level of healthy lifestyle and the way of having meals of the students. Materials and methods. Materials: results of a sociological survey of 412 students of Uzhhorod National University, including 217 (60.3%) students of the Faculty of Medicine. The results of the expert assessment by 25 experts, including 7 employees of the public health system, 12 teachers of the Faculty of Medicine of Uzhhorod National University, 6 senior students. Methods: bibliosemantic, sociological, medicostatistical, of expert assessment, of structural-and-logical analysis. The study was conducted in February-May 2025. During the sociological research, the confidentiality of information about respondents and experts was preserved. Results. It was detected that the interviewed students have a low level of physical activity, a low level of psychological state, and a high level of smoking. At the same time, a high level of personal and household hygiene is noted. The way of having meals of the surveyed students for the most part cannot be classified as healthy. So, according to the diet: 23.8% of respondents never have breakfast, 42.2% have dinner after 8 pm, and 66.3% have constant night snacks; in terms of balanced nutrition: the use of meat products, fish, dairy products, eggs, vegetables and fruits does not meet the established physiological standards; by place of having meals: 12.6% of respondents cannot determine the place of personal meals, while 42.2% of respondents consume fast food daily; 44.2% consume snacks and sugary carbonated drinks daily, 42.0% regularly consume spicy and salty foods, and 64.1% consume alcoholic beverages weekly. Conclusions. According to the results of the study, a low level of health preserving behavior was established, which consists in an insufficient level of providing students with the basics of a healthy lifestyle and rational nutrition, as one of the main components of a healthy lifestyle.