Impact of Smoking on Lifestyle and Vitality in College Students

There is a long history of studies on the bad influence of smoking on our bodies, with many study results accumulated to date indicating a decline in the smoking rate. However, the smoking rate in Japan is still higher than that in other countries. In order to reveal the various influences due to smoking, we examined the changes in lifestyle and vitality prior to and the following smoking, targeting college students who are at the early age of starting to smoke. The subjects were 213 college students (83 men and 130 women). Smoking frequency as well as sleeping, eating habits, exercise, and vitality as a lifestyle were surveyed through a questionnaire survey. As a result of comparing smoking and lifestyle between the smoking group and non-smoking group, in terms of sleep, the bedtime and wake-up time tended to be late in the smoking group. Regarding eating habits, there was a tendency for the smoking group to have a high rate of skipping breakfast and a high intake rate of midnight snacks. Regarding exercise, the number of people exercising on a daily basis was small in both the smoking group and the non-smoking group, with no significant difference observed. Therefore, this study revealed that smoking has a negative influence on some aspects of lifestyle. There was no significant relationship in terms of the effects of smoking on vitality. Going forward, it will be necessary to clarify the negative effects of smoking on mental health.