Objective: to test the relationships between the nature of the course and level of physical
activity, time spent in sedentary behavior and sleep in university students during the pandemic
period. Methodology: The study was cross-sectional observational explanatory research,
using a sample of 195 Brazilian university students from a higher education institution in the
state of Maranhão. Previously approved by the ethics committee, opinion number 4,055,604.
All variables were measured subjectively and operationalized via an electronic questionnaire
on Google Forms. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity
Questionnaire, short version, sedentary behavior using the sedentary behavior questionnaire
from the Cardiovascular and Environmental Study of Youth/Children in South America, and
sleep time using the Index Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (habitual sleep question only).
Results: We observed that of the 195 university students who answered the questionnaires,
66.15% were from the health sciences area and (33.85%) were from other areas. In this sense,
(45.74%) of university students in the health area have a daily level of more than 150 min/day
in physical activities, in the same way as (27.27%) of university students in other areas.
Regarding time spent in sedentary behavior, we observed that (45.74%) of university students
in health areas, and (27.27%) of university students in other areas spend less than 8 hours a
day in sedentary behavior. And in the assessment of sleep time, we identified that (53.49%) of
university students in health areas had a sleep time of 7 - 9 hours per day, while university
students in other areas had (51.52%). We observed a significant association between the
nature of the course (health area vs other area) and the variables physical activity (OR = 2.37;
95%CI: 1.24 to 4.53) and sedentary behavior (OR = 2.25; 95% CI: 1.18 to 4.31), as sleep time
was not associated (OR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.43 to 1.44). Conclusion: The nature of the course
appears to be associated with the level of physical activity and time spent in sedentary
behavior in university students during the pandemic period. In this sense, academics from
other areas presented worse levels of physical activity and time in sedentary behavior,
compared to academics in the areas of health sciences.
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