Body Mass Index, Physical Activity and Sleep Duration among Students of a Tertiary Educational Institution in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Overweight and obesity increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, as well as some cancers. As the leading causes of preventable death worldwide, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3.4 million deaths. Physical inactivity and sleep duration may contribute to this rising trend. This study assessed Body Mass index (BMI) and determined prevalence of overweight and obesity, and association with physical activity and sleep duration among students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 375 respondents who were selected through a multistage sampling technique. Respondents were interviewed using pre-tested structured self-administered questionnaire, sleep duration was assessed, weight and height were measured using standard techniques and BMI [(weight (kg)/height (m2)] was calculated. Data was analysed with the IBM® SPSS software (V.23). Associations between variables were tested, level of significance set at 5% (p ≤ 0.05). Results: Mean age of respondents was 22.4±2.9 years. The respondents were predominantly male, 257(68.5%). A total of 50(13.3%) were overweight while 10(2.7%) were found to be obese, mean BMI was 22.0±3.2 kg/m2. Physical Activity (PA) pattern showed 89(23.7%) were inactive. Average sleep duration for all participants in this study was 7.0±1.4 hours with 45.6% of the participants having sleep duration less than 7 hours and 9.3% having 5 hours or less of sleep. There was no statistically significant association between BMI and physical activity and sleep duration. Conclusion: Majority of respondents had BMI within normal range. Although there was minimal physical activity among respondents, no association was found between BMI and physical activity or sleep.