Examination of nutritional habits and physical activity levels of secondary school students Tatvan example

At this study it is aimed to examine the nutritional habits and physical activity levels of secondary school students in Tatvan district. The research group consists of 401 volunteer students studying in this district. The nutrition and exercise scale developed by Yurt (2008) was applied to the participants. After the exercise scale was applied to the students, SPSS 25 package program was used to analyse the data. Analyses were performed with a significance level of p<0.05 considered significant. The effects of several variables or factors on the nutritional habits and physical activity levels of secondary school students were examined. The study shows that students who receive nutrition education are more likely to adopt healthy eating and regular meal habits. In the analyses made in terms of gender variable, no significant difference was determined between nutrition and exercise behaviours. This result contradicts the literature highlighting the impact of gender differences on health habits in adolescents, but it has been claimed that the social environment and environmental factors may be effective in young individuals developing similar health behaviours. Frequency of physical activity emerges as an important decisive factor of healthy lifestyle behaviours. It has been observed that students who exercise 3 days a week or more show more positive results in healthy diet and regular meal habits.