Iran Journal of Nursing

 Background & Aim: Health promotion and its maintenance are considered important elements in social development. Evidence implies that there is relationship between lifestyle and general health. Approximately 53% of the reasons of mortality rates is related to people's lifestyle. The impotance of lifestyle and related reasons have made the researchers to explore the issues of life style and health. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between lifestyle and general health in university students.

 Material & Methode: The study was a correlational descriptive design. One thousand and three hundred students consisted of 864 females and 436 males with 18-44 years old (486 subjects were living in dormitory) participanted in this study. The sampling method was stratified based on the school, gender and residency situation. The data were collected by questionnaires including a demographic deta sheet, lifestyle questionnaire (physical activity, nutrition, smoking, safety measures, stress management) and general health-questionnaire with 28 items.

 Result: The Chi square revealed significant relationships between general health and physical activity (P=0.000), nutrition (P=0.000), smoking (P=0.027), safety measure (P=0.000), stress management (P=0.000), and gender (P=0.01). No significant relationships were found between general health and age, school, and residency situation of the students. Also there were significant negative relatioships between general health and lifestyle dimensions.

 Conclusion: According to the findings, the students had not an optimal level of physical activity. Therefore providing facilities related to physical activity and body fitness programs in the students and encorraging them to use these facilities are recommended.