KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

The way of living influences to a great extend the human health. It’s one of the main reasons for the occurrence and development of a number of common and serious diseases – both chronic and infectious. The purpose of this study is to reveal the knowledge, attitude and behavior of 15-year-old students to given aspects of the healthy lifestyle. In the survey 110 ninth-graders (23 boys and 87 girls) from one school in Sofia were included. The following scientific methods were used: theoretical analysis, questionnaire research, statistical methods. The results were processed by frequency analysis. The results show that 59.1% of the respondents determine their daily physical activity as high enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle. An alarming fact is that over 40% of the studied students have some harmful habits such as alcohol and cigarettes abuse while about 50% of them have unhealthy eating habits. On the other hand, about 69% of students indicate that their lifestyle is healthy. Conclusion: There is a certain discrepancy and contradiction in the answers of some questions posed. That makes us to conclude that a certain part of the respondents haven’t enough knowledge and understanding about the health components and the meaning of the term “healthy lifestyle”.