What is it about?
Our team wanted to know how much female college students in the UAE move daily and how this relates to their weight and fat distribution. We invited 204 students (average age 20) to the physiotherapy lab. We recorded their height, weight, and waist and hip sizes, then asked them to complete the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, which records walking, moderate, and vigorous activity. We found that 26 % of the students were overweight and 24 % were obese, so roughly one in two carried extra weight. Another 27 % had too much fat around the waist, a known heart-disease risk. On the brighter side, most students (about 60 %) did at least a moderate amount of activity, mainly walking between classes and during hospital training. Those who were more active tended to have lower body mass indexes BMI, confirming that regular movement helps keep weight down. However, only very vigorous exercise seemed to affect the waist-hip ratio. In short, encouraging daily exercise—such as organized walks, active breaks and improved campus facilities—could be a simple way to tackle student obesity.
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Why is it important?
Obesity is rising fast among Gulf youth, yet female university students have been largely overlooked. By directly measuring BMI and waist-to-hip ratio in a large cohort of 204 health-science students and pairing these data with the validated IPAQ activity survey, we discovered that half are overweight or obese and 27 % carry dangerous abdominal fat, while even routine campus walking links to a healthier weight. This mix of hard measurements and real-world habits delivers the first reliable baseline for this group, uncovers a modifiable risk factor, and highlights simple, low-cost fixes, shaded walkways, active class breaks, that universities can adopt now. The findings can guide campus policy, spark wider Gulf research, and ultimately help the very students who will soon counsel patients on healthy living.
Perspectives
Our findings not only reveal that half of female health-science students carry excess weight and 27 % harbor risky abdominal fat, but they also open a new window on whether the demanding schedules of paramedical training itself restrict students’ physical activity. To explore this further, we are launching a follow-up study comparing activity patterns in medical and non-medical students. By pinpointing how professional coursework shapes lifestyle habits, we aim to guide tailored, low-cost campus initiatives—shaded walkways, active class breaks, smarter timetables—that protect the well-being of all students and the future patients they will counsel.
Emne Hammoud
Fatima College of Health Sciences
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Physical Activity Level, Weight Categories, and Fat Distribution: A Cross- Sectional Study of College Students, New Emirates Medical Journal, November 2024, Bentham Science Publishers,
DOI: 10.2174/0102506882311351240813100038.
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