Research Paper

Group Leader/Facilitator: Ashley Piñero

Topic: Promoting Students’ Lifestyle

Research Question: How does students’ lifestyle affect their academic performance?

Thesis Statement: Students’ lifestyle directly impacts students’ academic performance in that a
healthier lifestyle of students is positively correlated to their academic performance, while high-
stress level has a negative influence.
References:

Al-Amari, H. G. (2015b). The Perception of College Students about a Healthy Lifestyle and its
Effect on their Health. Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences, 05(06).
https://doi.org/10.4172/2155-9600.1000437

Dubuc, M.-M., Aubertin-Leheudre, M., & Karelis, A. D. (2019). Lifestyle habits predict
academic performance in high school students: The adolescent student academic
performance longitudinal study (ASAP). International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health, 17(1), 243. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17010243

Dungog, R. J., Tamanal, J. M., & Kim, C. H. (2021). The assessment of lifestyle status among
high school and college students in Luzon, Philippines. Journal of Lifestyle Medicine,
11(2), 57–65. https://doi.org/10.15280/jlm.2021.11.2.57

Elias, E. M., Bakar, H. S. A., Bakar, S. Z. A., Mahidin, N., & Fang, K. J. (2021). Evaluating the
profile of health and lifestyle affect among undergraduate students in the university
campus. PROCEEDINGS of GREEN DESIGN and MANUFACTURE 2020, 5(4), 53.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0046111

Hernando, B. et al. (2021). Healthy lifestyle and academic performance in middle school
students from the region of Aragón (Spain). International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health, 18,9-10. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8624
Maniaci, G., La Cascia, C., Giammanco, A., Ferraro, L., Palummo, A., Saia, G. F., Pinetti, G.,
Zarbo, M., & La Barbera, D. (2021). The impact of healthy lifestyles on academic
achievement among Italian adolescents. Current Psychology, 36(5), 360-364.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01614-w

Rajendra, S. & Chamundeswari S. (2019, July). Understanding the impact of lifestyle on the
academic performance of middle- and high-school students. Journal of Sociological
Research, 10(2), 67-75.
https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/70767/RajendranAndCham
undeswariImpactLifestyleAcademic.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Shah, M., Hasan, S., Malik, S., & Sreeramareddy, C. T. (2010). Perceived stress, sources, and
severity of stress among medical undergraduates in a Pakistani medical school. BMC
medical education, 10(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-10-2

Tater, M. (2020, June 4). 9 Ways to Improve Students’ Lifestyle. Entrepreneurship Life.
https://www.entrepreneurshiplife.com/9-ways-to-improving-students-lifestyle/

Vogel, S., & Schwabe, L. (2016). Learning and memory under stress: implications for the
classroom. Npj Science of Learning, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/npjscilearn.2016.11
 Topic: Promoting Students’ Lifestyle

I. Introduction

Healthy lifestyle practices, such as eating well, exercising regularly, getting

enough sleep, managing stress, and having a strong spiritual foundation, are well-

established components of maintaining a good and healthy lifestyle, lowering the risk of

illness, and improving each student's wellbeing. All students' academic performance is

correlated with their healthy behaviors, indicating that leading unhealthy lifestyles may

have a negative impact on cognitive function and, consequently, academic performance. 

Health is important, the way a person learn and remember information depends on

their physical and mental well-being. A student’s lifestyle observed to have a significant

influence on how students performed. Behaviors of healthy lifestyle such as getting

enough of sleep, eating well, exercising, managing stress, and more are associated in

achieving high academic performance. A person's academic status can be affected by

both positive and negative lifestyle practices. Students who have unhealthy lifestyle tends

to have poor health and academic difficulties.

Academic performance is more likely influenced by the lifestyle of the student.

Many of them have a healthy lifestyle practice that result to positive impact on the

academic performance. Meanwhile, unhealthy lifestyle practices lead to negative impact

on the academic performance of the students. This study helps to determine the

relationship between healthy lifestyle and academic performance, to identify the positive

and negative impact of healthy lifestyle in academic performance, and to examine the

students’ capabilities to perform in academic.

A. A person’s lifestyle can be defined as their different opinions, interests,

orientation, behavior, or culture that defines their style of living. As a student in a

learning institution, everyone has a lifestyle that affects day-to-day activities in a learning

environment. Now, Lifestyle has been one of the central subjects of increasing research

interest worldwide and is acknowledged as part of the relevant factors of an individual’s

health status. The World Health Organization (2021) defines health as a state of complete

physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease. It adds

further that 60% of the quality of an individual’s life correlates to an individual’s

behavior and lifestyle and even suggested recommendations that a Healthy Lifestyle can

reduce the risk of avoidable health problems and improve a person’s quality of life.

B. Health is a universal trait; the World Health Organization defines health as a

“state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of

disease. According to Farhud (2015) lifestyle has a significant influence on physical and

mental health of human being. There are different forms of such influences. Nowadays,

students at university have a different lifestyle due to tight academic timetables, rules and

regulations, and extracurricular activities. Therefore, many of them develop a series of

unhealthy trends, such as insufficient nutrition, lack of rest, and physical activities.

Students with an unhealthy lifestyle commonly have less nutrients and physical activity

and are identified as more depressed and weaker in mind and physique. Past studies show

that unhealthy students are more likely to deal with difficulty in learning and thus impact

the achievement, attendance, and academic performance. Eventually, an unhealthy

lifestyle inherited from university will affect the student’s quality of life. Therefore, the
 university’s top management needs to inspire their students to improve health and well-

being to pursue better performance in academics.

C. A growing number of studies have been performed regarding the positive effect of

physical activity on academic performance. Many of these studies were conducted on

children and show that students who are less physically active obtain lower grades and

that physical activity interventions can be effective in improving academic achievement,

academic behaviour, and cognitive skills and attitudes. According to Maniaci et al.

(2021) Academic performance was positively correlated with good diet, perceived social

support, and self-esteem. A statistically significant difference emerged between students

with high versus low correct grade point averages in relation to lifetime and current use

of illegal drugs. Last, academic performance was negatively correlated with Internet use,

perceived stress, and bad diet. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to predict

academic achievement based on good diet, physical activity, self-esteem, sleep hours,

perceived stress, problematic Internet use, perceived social support, and lifetime

substance use while controlling for age, gender, and years of education. As expected,

healthy lifestyle behaviors were highlighted as a significant predictor of academic

achievement. Specifically, it was shown that a good diet as well as non-problematic

Internet use significantly predicted academic success.

III. Other Factors that Influence Students’ Lifestyle

A. Influence of Stress and Habits on Students’ Lifestyle

habits are interrelated, and it significantly predict perceived stress. The more the students

follow a healthier lifestyle, the less they perceive stress. Unhealthy lifestyle activities

may be linked to stressful student life, and a negative correlation may exist between

lifestyle habits and perceived stress levels. According to a study conducted by Vogel &

Schwabe (2016), stress is assumed to stimulate memory formation, resulting in memories

that are more stable. Stress, however, severely weakens memory retrieval, increasing the

risk, for example, of performing poorly on exams. Psychological effects of stress on

students may lead to anxiety or problems with their cognitive functioning, and some

changes in students’ behavior, thus resulting to being more irritated, frustrated,

withdrawn, and hostile toward their peers. These situations may lead to unhealthy coping

mechanisms that could bring about unhealthy habits to their lifestyle, consequently

affecting their academic performance.

B. How Stress and Habits Impacts Students Well-Being and Academic Performance

A study conducted by Dubuc et al. (2019) concludes that favorable lifestyle habits

predict positive cognitive control and academic performance of students. As stated by a

study by Rajendran & Chamundeshwari (2019), a healthier lifestyle is positively

correlated to academic performance, while a high-stress level has a negative influence.

Students' academic performance is significantly impacted by stress. However, very few

research have examined the impact of student stressors on student performance. Students

that lead unhealthy lifestyles suffer negative effects on their academic achievement as

well. Poor lifestyle habits have a significant impact on students' well-being, which can

therefore have an impact on their academic performance, attendance, and attention span.
 The relationship between stress and academic success is determined by lifestyle.

Stressors seems significantly predicted by lifestyle. The more frequently the students lead

healthier lifestyles, the less stress they experience. Stress can be found to escalate with

age and educational level. According to research done by Shah et al. (2010), stress was

found to negatively affect academic performance. Stressful student life may be correlated

to unhealthy lifestyle habits, as well as a negative relationship between lifestyle habits

and perceived stress levels. Academic performance is best influenced by lifestyle,

whether directly and indirectly.

IV. Students’ Lifestyle and Academic Performance

Another path to understanding the relationship between lifestyle and academic

performance is through stress. Though researchers have made efforts to understand the

impact of stress on academic performance in several countries across the globe for

college students, extremely limited studies focus on adolescent stressors and their

influence on student performance. Lifestyle significantly predicts academic performance,

both directly and indirectly. While stress has a negative association with academic

performance, obesity seems not to affect student exam scores. Stress is positively related

to obesity. In addition to these above-mentioned health-related repercussions, unhealthy

lifestyles practiced by children have unfavorable consequences on their academic

performance as well.

Those students who maintained a healthy lifestyle obtained better academic

results, and those who did not performed worse academically. It is well known that using

certain substances can decrease learning and memory capacity and produce cognitive
problems in the short, medium, and long term. Specifically, the students who consumed

tobacco, alcohol, and other substances, namely cocaine, hashish, LSD, and glue, obtained

worse academic results than those who did not consume them. In addition, abstinence

from using tobacco, alcohol, and other substances was linked to better academic

performance in general, and early exposure to these substances was linked to worse

academic results. Health education and promotion programs are implemented in schools

to not only promote healthy lifestyles and improve health outcomes among the student

population, but also to improve their academic performance. Further, health education

and promotion of healthy lifestyles should be integrated into the educational strategies

and policies of all educational centers.