Sedentary behavior in university students

Objective: Determine sedentary behavior in university students. Materials and Methods: Cross Sectional study of 2203 undergraduate students from seven higher education institutions. A survey was applied that measured the sociodemographic variables: sex, age and area of knowledge where the student is enrolled; sedentary behavior through the question: how many hours a day do you use in front of a television, computer, video game or other screen? Data analysis was performed in the statistical program SPSS version 24. The relationship between time screens and the sex and age range of the study subjects was assessed using the Student t test; and with the area of knowledge, through the one way analysis of variance test (ANOVA). Results: 50.1% of the students are men. The predominant age range was younger than 26 years (90.1%). Students spend more hours in front of the cell phone (7.5 +/- 5.6 hours) and the computer (3 +/- 2.5 hours). There are significant differences (p<0.05) between the age range and use of the computer, in the older ones the average is 3.8 +/- 2.4 hours. The younger age spend 6.6 +/- 3.8 hours in front of the cell phone. Social science students spend 7.14 hours per day. Conclusions: University students spend more than 2 hours a day on screens such as cell phones and computers. Therefore, it is necessary to implement interventions that focus on establishing healthy habits in university students.