Lifestyle as an important factor in control of overweight and obesity among schoolchildren from the rural environment.

INTRODUCTION: Lifestyle of an individual is responsible for sixty percent of his/her state of health. Many studies of this problem indicate that in the style of life of schoolchildren, anti-health behaviours dominate over health promoting behaviours.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the presented study was recognition of the lifestyle of the rural adolescents with overweight and obesity.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study covered adolescents aged 15-19, living in the rural environments of the West Pomeranian Region. Finally, the analysis covered 2,165 schoolchildren, and was performed with the use of a self-designed questionnaire form and the BMI was applied.

RESULTS: The study showed that overweight occurred more often in the group of examined girls than boys, while obesity was twice as frequent among boys than among girls. Overweight schoolchildren (35.1%) had an adequate diet, while those obese--inadequate (78.3%). In the group of schoolchildren with overweight, passive leisure prevailed over active forms of leisure, 83.8% and 16.2%, respectively. Passive leisure was also dominant among obese respondents. Among as many as 81.8% of schoolchildren with overweight, physical activity was mediocre, while only 8.1% of them were active. The highest percentage of respondents with obesity were totally inactive physically. Obese schoolchildren relatively often experienced stressful situations. It is an alarming fact that both overweight and obese schoolchildren relatively often used psychoactive substances.

CONCLUSIONS: A considerable number of respondents with overweight and obesity applied an adequate diet, preferred passive forms of leisure, experienced stressful situations, were characterized by low physical activity, and systematically used psychoactive substances.