Study of change in exercise and nutrition lifestyle and physical activity levels of undergraduate students in the pandemic process

Purpose of this study is to examine the changes in exercise and nutrition lifestyle and physical activity levels of undergraduate students in the pandemic process. Population of the study was composed of undergraduate students over the age of 18 living in Mersin in 2022-2023 academic year. Sample of the study was composed of 380 students studying at various faculties of Mersin University Çiftlikköy Campus. Personal Information Form, International Physical Activity Survey (IPAS) and Nutrition-Exercise Behavior Scale (NEBS) were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the data, Mann Whitney U was used in pairwise comparisons, Kruskal Wallis H in the comparison of more than two groups, and Spearman Correlation analyzes were used to determine the level of relationship, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test was used in the measurements before and after the pandemic, and the margin of error was accepted as 0.05. According to the findings, 53.95% of the students included in the study (n=205) were female and 46.05% (175) were male. 45.26% of the participants had Covid-19 infection, 47.37% was quarantined. Time spent actively in the Covid-19 pandemic process decreased in 49.74% of the students (p<0.05). The time 86.32% of the students spent sitting was increased (p<0.05). In the study scores participants received from four sub-scales of NEBS and it was determined that their total scores were statistically significantly higher compared to before the pandemic (p<0.01). It was determined that according to IPAS of the participants, 67.59% were inactive and 31.38% were very active. It was determined that those that considered they had a sufficient balanced nutrition had a statistically significantly higher vigorous and moderate physical activity score (p<0.001). Among the participants Post-Pandemic (PP) Nursing and Medicine Faculty students had a statistically significantly higher total NEBS score compared to fine arts, science-literature and education faculty students (p<0.01). A very weak positive correlation was found between the total IPAS scores of students and their pre-pandemic total NEBS scores (r=0.120*; p=0.02), a weak positive correlation with their post-pandemic total NEBS scores (r=0.407**; p=0.001). A positive, high and very high correlation was found between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic BMI (r=0.893**; p=0.001), and body weights (r=0.941**; p=0.001) of participants. Consequently, closure of universities and measurements such as physical distance during the COID-19 quarantine period may have affected physical activity levels and nutrition and exercise habits of students. It could be argued that students that did not leave their homes for a long time with the beginning of the pandemic and started to spend most of their times in a sedentary lifestyle using tablets, computers, and phones at home. The inactive tendencies exhibited as a result are considered to have negative consequences on unhealthy nutrition style.