Staying healthy, maintaining body weight will reduce stress, says study
Staying happy and positive, as well as maintaining body weight may help college students lead a healthy life despite the stress they experience in universities, a study has found.
Research shows that optimists and happy people are healthier overall, enjoying lower blood pressure and less depression and anxiety, among other measures.
However, data on the effect of weight and body mass index (BMI) on physical and mental health are rare – especially among college students, who suffer high rates of anxiety and depression and often neglect physical self-care and exercise.
Researchers from the University of Michigan in the US and Fudan University in China set out to learn the extent to which BMI and positive outlook affect the physical and mental health of college students.
The study, published in the Biomedical Journal of Scientific and Technical Research, found that a positive outlook and BMI both contributed significantly to good health, said Weiyun Chen, associate professor at the University of Michigan.
Researchers asked 925 students to rate four indicators of psychological well-being: hope, gratitude, life satisfaction and subjective happiness.
They also calculated students’ BMI based on self-reported body weight and height. To assess physical and mental health, researchers asked students various questions about their sleep quality and …read more