Brenner, Ingrid KM

Nurses have a vital role in counselling their patients towards healthier living. However, nurses tend to have poor metabolic health that may be influenced by lifestyle. Whether this begins during their nursing education is poorly understood. Undergraduate nursing (n=42) and biology (n=15) students had their metabolic health assessed through body measurements, fasting blood glucose and lipids. Lifestyle factors of physical activity, nutrition, stress, and sleep were assessed using questionnaires, accelerometry, diet logs, and heart rate variability. At an individual level, 31.0% of nursing students are at-risk of poor metabolic health. Results suggest that nursing students are sedentary, obtaining poor sleep quality, consuming elevated amounts of saturated fat, and perceiving themselves to be under mild stress. The implementation of lifestyle interventions should be considered for this cohort. However, few differences were found between nursing and biology groups, indicating that the results are potentially generalizable to a larger group of undergraduate students.

Author Keywords: metabolic health, nursing students, nutrition, physical activity, psychological stress, sleep quality