Estilo de vida evaluado en prácticas y creencias de estudiantes universitarios y profesionales paraguayos

WHO highlights the importance of studying physical and mental health worldwide, even more so in the context of the consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic. The research seeks to describe and correlate healthy lifestyles evaluated in practices and beliefs of university students and professionals Paraguayans. The method applies a cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational design. It was evaluated with the Questionnaire of Practices and Beliefs related to Lifestyles. The sample consists of N = 1577 participants (n = 1083 students and n = 518 professionals), from different careers and universities. The results record the existence of a weak but significant positive relationship between beliefs and physical activity/sports. As people get older, they have slightly more positive beliefs about how to manage their free time, beliefs about eating habits. However, there is a negative relationship between age and self-care and medical care beliefs. Among the conclusions, the lack of coherence between beliefs and healthy practices stands out; it is proposed to design public health interventions that consider people's beliefs, and how these can change with age. Strengthen prevention and education of healthy lifestyles for groups of different ages.