The Relation between Students’ Productivity and Lifestyle Habits

Abstract

This study goes beyond conventional determinants of academic performance like age, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic variables among university students by examining the association between health related and self-reported lifestyle habits on academic productivity measured by students final grade in the course COL230. The main variables under investigation are reading hobby, physical activity, nutrition and daily water intake. Using a questionnaire on females enrolled at a general education preparatory course at the undergraduate level in one of the national universities in the UAE, And using non-parametric test of association, we found that among the variables tested, reading as a hobby is significantly interrelated with higher academic productivity. The results confirm that reading is part of cognitive development and conscious learning of university students as found in previous studies. Conversely, we found that physical activity; healthy nutrition, regular breakfast and hydration had an insignificant association with academic productivity even though they are considered integral components to effective learning.

Keywords: Student Productivity, Lifestyle Habits, GCC, University Students