Directions of the students of Hassiba Ben Bouali University (Algeria) towards practicing recreational physical activities and their role in improving dietary habits, reducing stress, and limiting smoking in the university environment.

Abstract

The applied study aims to evaluate the habits and traditions of male and female students at Hassiba Ben Bouali University (Algeria) regarding healthy nutrition, recreational physical activity, abstaining from smoking, stress and its control, and to verify the existence of statistical differences between genders in this regard. The researchers used a sample of 172 students from the university's faculties in the first stage. The study relied on a questionnaire form based on a Likert scale consisting of twenty-four questions in four axes represented in the first axis of nutrition, the second axis of smoking, the third axis of stress, and the fourth axis of physical activities. The researcher translated them to experts for evaluation and suitability for the studied environment. As for the statistical treatments, the SPSS program was used, which included chi-square to determine the differences between genders in the four axes and the use of Pearson's correlation to test the reliability of the scale tool, in addition to the arithmetic mean and percentage. The researchers found that many students deal with a healthy eating method except for the paragraph that indicated that students do not have breakfast when going to the university. The researchers did not find statistically significant differences between male and female students when engaging in physical activities. They also found that the state of stress is related to the practice of physical activities as it helps reduce stress among university students, and there are no statistically significant differences between males and females in accepting the smoking phenomenon, as the results showed that more than 28% of both genders reject smoking. The researcher recommended the implementation of healthy nutrition and physical activity programs in universities and schools alike.