Interrelationship between Sedentary Lifestyle and Obesity among Medical Students

BACKGROUND Students undergoing MBBS course are all the time very busy in their studies, they hardly get any time for exercise. Sedentary habits and shift to western lifestyle and fast food culture has led to overweight and obesity. This study was done to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the first year MBBS students of batch 2016-17. METHODS The present study was carried from June to August 2017 among 200 first year MBBS students of Govt. Medical College, Amritsar of Punjab. RESULTS Prevalence of overweight and obesity was 22.5% and 15.5% respectively. Boys are more overweight 24.51% and obese 25.49% than girls 20.41% and 5.10% respectively. CONCLUSIONS The present study concluded that obesity is prevalent in first year MBBS students and causes are faulty eating habits and lack of regular exercise.