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Aim: The COVID -19 pandemic has changed the way people live, and children are particularly at risk because of their vulnerable age. The aim of this work was to evaluate the changes in nutritional status, physical activity, and eating habits of elementary schoolaged children during the Covid 19 pandemic. Methods: The study was conducted from February to April 2021 and included 197 primary school children, 100 boys, and 97 girls. A questionnaire was used to collect data on lifestyle, eating habits, and physical activity outside school. The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents was used to determine membership in the Mediterranean diet. The kinanthropological and anthropological data of the students were obtained from the diary of the physical education and health teacher. Results: The average rating of the quality of the children's diet, as determined by the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for Children and Adolescents, showed a moderate affiliation with the Mediterranean diet. Before online instruction, 65.9% of students ate breakfast daily, whereas during online instruction, 75.7% ate breakfast (p< 0.001). Results showed that students exercised statistically significantly more before online instruction than during online instruction (p< 0.05). Students had weaker kinanthropological scores than before beginning online instruction. Conclusions: According to the results, students' diet is of average quality, and some habits, such as breakfast, have improved, while physical activities have decreased significantly during the pandemic. Therefore, the promotion of proper nutrition and physical activity through public health programs should be emphasized to educate both children and parents about the importance of proper nutrition, physical activity, and responsible use of various media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to investigate serum vitamin D level in undergraduate students of health studies and its relationship with the frequency of vitamin D rich food consumption, sun exposure, study-related fatigue, headache and psychopathological status, and the relationship of the latter three parameters with the type of physical activity. A blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Multidimensional Fatigue Scale, Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), nutrition and physical activity were surveyed in randomly chosen students. Study results showed that 49% of students had 25(OH)D insufficiency/deficiency. The MIDAS values were higher in the insufficient/deficient group (p=0.035) and were associated with hours of weekly cardio exercises (r=-0.48, p=0.031). CORE-OM and total fatigue correlated with 25(OH)D (r=-0.59, p=0.024; r=0.51, p=0.023). Students with sufficient 25(OH)D had a significantly higher vitamin D intake by consuming sardines in their monthly nutrition (p=0.048). 25(OH)D correlated with the amount of monthly consumed sardines (r=0.59, p=0.006) in general. Our results provide initial evidence that an appropriate lifestyle along with proper physical activity, especially cardio exercise, and vitamin D rich nutrition is important to reduce fatigue, headaches and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show the prevalence of sedentary lifestyle, i.e. insufficient physical activity in schoolchildren, and the association of sedentary lifestyle and headache. We used Croatian database of the international research on Health Behaviour of School-aged Children, 2013/2014. For the purpose of this paper, we used questions that describe sedentary lifestyle and headaches. Statistical processing was done using IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0 statistical program. The sample included 5741 students (49.8% F and 50.2% M), primary school 5th and 7th grades and secondary school 1st grade (age 11, 13 and 15 years, respectively), with an equal distribution. The response rate was 85.9%. Study results showed that 25.3% of students practiced daily physical activity. Spending two hours of free time in front of screens daily was reported by 23.9% of respondents. One-fifth of the students answered that they played games for about half an hour a day. Children who were more physically active had less headaches (OR 0.0905, p<0.001). More time spent in front of a screen was associated with more frequent headaches (OR 1.082, p<0.003), and playing games longer was associated with less headaches (OR 0.890, p<0.001). Analyzing the relationship between sedentary lifestyle and headaches indicated physical activity and playing games as a protective factor, whereas the time spent in front of a screen was a risk factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Overweight and obesity are a global public health problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) data from 2008 report on 1.4 billion overweight adults, 500 millions of them being obese. Unfortunately, according to the WHO data from 2010, there were about 170 million young people with excessive body weight and more than 42 million obese children younger than 5 years. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of dietary habits and physical activity on nutritional status of the surveyed students. Respondents and methods: In the study, we used anthropometric measurements of body weight and height. Nutritional status was estimated based on the percentile distribution of body mass per body height by age and sex (first and sixth primary school grades and second high school grade). Dietary habits were assessed by use of a questionnaire with questions about the number and kinds of meals, their frequency and environment in which they were consumed, as well as their content. The consumption of sweets/salty snacks, fast food, energy drinks, coffee, alcohol and smoking was also studied. Data were analysed by use of the SPSS PC+, v. 15 statistical software. Results: The study included 167 students (55.08% of boys and 44.91% of girls). Most of the students had normal nutritional status (64.07%), 20.95% were overweight and 14.97% were underweight. Primary school students were fatter than high school students were. First grade primary school students mostly had 5 meals a day, as well as those that were more physically active. Breakfast was the meal that was avoided most frequently. Those children that reported eating vegetables more often were not overweight. Physical activity was most frequently reported by primary school sixth-graders. Conclusion: Body weight of our study subjects followed the trend in the Republic of Croatia. Dietary habits changed unfavourably with subject age; along with the lack of physical activity, it was a potential predictor of obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]