Sporting lifestyle vs. ’cigarettes & coffee’ lifestyle of Slovenian high school students

Abstract

Two different lifestyles of Slovenian high school students, which can be differentiated by their sporting activity, were studied on a sample of 681 high school students of both genders with an average age of 18 years. Some indicators of young people’s lifestyle related to eating, drinking, smoking, daily routines, socialising and sporting activity were used to demonstrate their habits. Some other factors—gender, urbanisation of the environment and the education of parents—which could also influence the lifestyles of young people were also studied. The findings confirm the hypothesis that participation in sport has a significant impact on the formation of two quite opposing lifestyles in terms of unhealthy habits. The sporting lifestyle is, besides regular sporting activity (at least three times 45 minutes per week in addition to PE lessons), also characterised by regular eating habits and the infrequent intake of intoxicating substances. Although the consumption of these substances is largely related to partying, the results showed that students with a sporting lifestyle socialise and spend their weekend nights similarly to their peers, but in a less unhealthy way. In contrast, the so-called ‘cigarettes&coffee’ lifestyle is an antithesis to the sporting lifestyle when health risk factors are considered.