Understanding Impact of Unhealthy Lifestyle Choices and Cognitive Ability in College Going Students at an Indian Higher Education Institute Meghanadan Anmol1, Kulkarni Meenal2 1MBA Student, Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Symbiosis International University, Pune, India 2Assistant Professor, Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Symbiosis International University, Pune, India Online published on 29 December, 2017. Abstract Introduction The growing problem of stress, obesity, insomnia and lethargy among young adults is a huge concern today. Unhealthy lifestyle choices are shown to cause adverse consequences on physical health. The cognitive ability of college students is also affected further as they indulge more into such activities. Purpose The present study attempts to understand the correlation between stress, sleep, exercise and diet on cognitive ability amongst the college students. Research Design A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst the college students in Indian setup for a period of one month. Random sampling was used to collect data from 60 samples. The questionnaire on lifestyle focused on factors such as exercise, diet, stress, smoking, drinking, sleep habits etc. as section A. Section B focused on certain typical questions related to ability to remember and applying simple logic. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Results & discussion It was observed that most of the students under study are in the normal stress range between 4 and 7{range included: 1–3, 4–7 and 7–10(low, moderate and high)}, maximum students get adequate amount of sleep depicting no case of insomnia. Further, students who get optimum sleep between 6 to 7 hours, are found to be in the stress range between 4 to 7. Relationship between stress and cognitive ability showed that low stress levels improves memory and thinking capabilities as the majority of the students in the low stress range scored the highest memory test points. Research implications Study shows a cumulative association of stress levels, sleep patterns, consumption of fruits and vegetables, low physical activity level with poor cognitive function, this can be further utilized to develop programmes focusing on improving the well-being. Originality Assessing relationship between diet, stress, sleep and cognitive ability Top Keywords Correlation, stress, lifestyle, cognitive ability. Top |