Abstract
Background and Study Aim. The increasing reliance on technology for daily activities has led to a significant reduction in physical activity, especially among university students. This trend is driven by a desire to avoid perceived "stress" and to achieve goals more easily. As a result, there has been a rise in the number of overweight students. The sedentary lifestyle associated with excessive technology use poses a serious threat to students' health. It leads to unfavorable changes in body composition. The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between body composition and the living environment among female students, specifically examining differences between those from rural and urban areas.
Material and Methods. A total of 144 first-year female students from non-sports faculties participated in this study, including 66 from rural areas and 78 from urban areas. The research logistics involved the use of the Tanita BC 1000 Body Composition Analyzer and GMON software. The following body composition parameters were measured: weight, BMI, fat level (expressed in % and kg), bone mass, body water (%), and metabolic age. Additionally, the height of the subjects was measured to calculate the body mass index.
Results. The analysis reveals that although urban students are, on average, older than their rural counterparts (22.6 years vs. 19.7 years, z = 3.50, p < 0.001), there are no significant differences between the groups in terms of height (z = 0.47, p > 0.05), weight (z = 0.31, p > 0.05), or BMI (z = 0.35, p > 0.05). The greatest consistency in measurements was observed in height among rural students, while the most variability was found in fat mass. The largest discrepancy between the groups was in weight, with rural students generally being heavier.
Conclusions. The results of this study show that the living environment does not have a significant impact on body composition dynamics. Both rural and urban groups displayed nearly identical average values for most indicators. This suggests that other factors may have a stronger influence on body composition.