Delhi, India

According to the National College Health Assessment, feelings of loneliness among college students have increased dramatically in the last 10 years since experts feel transitioning to a new environment, as many college freshmen do, increases feelings of loneliness, which leads to unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle.

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With data from the Mason: Health Starts Here cohort study, Master of Nutrition alum Li Jiang found that loneliness was related to altered diet quality and physical inactivity. The research was done as part of Jiang's master's thesis, and Mason Nutrition and Food Studies Department Chair Lawrence J. Cheskin, Associate Professor Lilian de Jonge, former faculty member Cara Frankenfeld, and former postdoctoral fellow Ziaul H. Rana also contributed to the project.

"Our study supports a potential need for further research in understanding unhealthful dietary behaviour and physical activity which may be related to loneliness, an emotion that impacts many college students," said Jiang.

Sedentary (19.2 per cent) and low active (53.8 per cent) behaviours were more frequent in students reporting high loneliness (score ranges of 4-6 and 7-9) than those reporting low loneliness (score of 10-12).

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Students reporting more loneliness had higher fat diets than students reporting less loneliness.

"Interventions to reduce loneliness may have a positive effect on health promotion in this population. This data goes along with other initial findings from the Health Starts Here study that college students are not meeting healthy dietary guidelines or getting enough physical activity," said Mason Nutrition and Food Studies Department Chair Lawrence J. Cheskin, who has an MD. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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