Abstract
Being healthy is an important aspect in life satisfaction. The factors that affect the health status of an individual are environmental, economic, socio-cultural and genetic factors, access to health services, and lifestyle. Since it can be controlled by the individual, lifestyle is a topic with great importance. Understanding the healthy lifestyle behaviors of individuals is important for health and education institutions, companies, and governments to define their strategies accordingly. This quantitative study involves 205 respondents from a university in Istanbul. Data were obtained from self-administered questionnaires with 27 questions. The chapter examines the characteristics of the respondents regarding demographics and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Differences in the sample's healthy lifestyle dimensions were determined according to demographic variables after T-test and ANOVA analysis. This research presents the opportunity for further qualitative research in healthy lifestyle habits especially among university students.
TopIntroduction
The concept of health has always existed for people; because health is the human life itself. The understanding of health has shown changes between individuals and societies from time to time. Until recently, health and illness have been considered together; health has been defined as an absence of illness and illness has been defined as not being healthy.
Healthy lifestyle behaviors are healthy eating, stress management, regular exercise, spiritual wellbeing, high quality interpersonal relations and taking the health responsibility. In many countries, number of people who are adopting healthy lifestyle is increasing. In Turkey this is mostly due to the promotion of healthy lifestyle by media, the awareness campaigns held by governments and the global trend of LOHAS. LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability), is one of the latest approaches about lifestyle bringing a consumer segment who cares about health, environment, social justice and sustainable living (Cohen, 2010).
The objective of the study is to explore the healthy lifestyle behaviors of different groups at a university. In this study the healthy lifestyle behaviors of three different groups (student, faculty, administrative staff) at a university in Istanbul are researched.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Healthy Lifestyle: Way of life enhanced with activities, interests, and opinions that will help the individual reach optimal health.
Emotional Health: Being free from emotional/mental illnesses such as clinical depression.
Emotional Well-Being: A person’s ability to cope with daily circumstances and to deal with personal feelings in a positive, optimistic, and constructive manner.
Social Well-Being: A person’s ability to interact with others successfully and to establish meaningful relationships that enhance the quality of life for all people involved in the interaction (including self).
Life Satisfaction: A judgmental process in which individuals assess the quality of their lives on the basis of their own unique set of criteria.
Spiritual Health and Spiritual Well-Being: The integration of one’s spirituality with the other dimensions of life, thus maximizing the potential for growth and self-actualization.
Physical Well-Being: A person’s ability to function effectively in meeting the demands of the day’s work and to use free time effectively.
Intellectual Well-Being: A person’s ability to learn and to use information to enhance the quality of daily living and optimal functioning.
Social Health: Being free from illnesses or conditions that severely limit functioning in society, including antisocial pathologies.
Intellectual Health: Being free from illnesses that invade the brain and other systems that allow learning.
Physical Health: Being free from illnesses that affect the physiological systems of the body, such as the heart and the nervous system.