Health Factors and Academic Performance among Residential College Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT

A healthy lifestyle is very important to ensure a good health during study period at university. This study aims to measure the body mass index (BMI), physical activities, sleep duration and academic performance among 334 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students staying in Tun Syed Nasir Residential College, Kuala Lumpur. All data were collected using questionnaires and anthropometric measurement. The results showed 22% of students had underweight problems, 11% overweight and 3% obese, respectively. About half of the male students (52%) showed high physical activity levels, whereas moderate physical activity levels were reported in 59% of female students. Additionally, majority of the students (90%) had sleep duration less than eight hours per day. The participated students showed 3.06±0.34 of min CGPA. Pearson correlation test showed in-significant relationship between moderate physical activity, walking and sleep duration during weekends with CGPA performance. However, there were negative relationship between BMI (r=-0.174, p<0.05) and high physical activities (r= -0.118, p< 0.05) with CGPA performance. Moreover, only sleep duration were found to have significant positive correlation with CGPA performance (r=0.132, p<0.05). In conclusion, this study manages to prove that students’ academic performance is related to BMI, physical activities and sleep duration.
Keywords: BMI, physical activity, sleep duration, academic

ABSTRAK

Amalan gaya hidup sihat sangat penting untuk memastikan kesihatan yang baik di sepanjang tempoh pengajian di universiti. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengukur indeks jisim badan (IJT), aktiviti fizikal, tempoh tidur dan pencapaian akademik (PNGK) dalam kalangan 334 orang pelajar Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia yang menghuni Kolej Tun Syed Nasir, Kuala Lumpur. Kesemua data telah dikumpulkan menggunakan borang soal selidik dan pengukuran antropometri. Hasil kajian menunjukkan 22% daripada pelajar mengalami masalah kurang berat badan, 11% berat badan berlebihan dan 3% obes. Lebih kurang separuh daripada pelajar lelaki (52%) menunjukkan tahap aktiviti fizikal yang tinggi, manakala 59% daripada pelajar perempuan mempunyai tahap aktiviti fizikal sederhana. Selain itu, majoriti pelajar (90%) tidur kurang dari 8 jam sehari. Pelajar yang terlibat mempunyai purata pencapaian PNGK sebanyak 3.06±0.34. Ujian korelasi Pearson menunjukkan tiada hubungan signifikan antara aktiviti fizikal sederhana, berjalan dan tempoh tidur pada hujung minggu dengan pencapaian PNGK pelajar. Namun begitu, terdapat hubungan signifikan yang negatif antara IJT (r = -0,174, p <0.05) dan aktiviti fizikal yang tinggi (r = -0,118, p <0.05) dengan pencapaian PNGK. Selain itu, hanya tempoh tidur pada hari biasa didapati mempunyai hubungan signifikan yang positif dengan pencapaian PNGK (r = 0.132, p <0.05). Kesimpulannya, kajian ini membuktikan pencapaian akademik pelajar mempunyai kaitan dengan status IJT, aktiviti fizikal dan tempoh tidur.
Kata kunci: IJT, aktiviti fizikal, tempoh tidur, akademik