ESTIMATION OF THE HEALTHY WAY OF LIVING AND THE GREEK TEENAGER DIETARY HABITS

Objective To estimate the healthy way of living of Greek teenagers by investigating their dietary habits, their tobacco use, their consumption of alcohol and coffee. Materials and Methods 470 teenagers (12–15 years old) took part in our investigation (228 boys and 242 girls) who live in the Paionia County, in Kozani and in Evritania. We used a nameless voluntary multiple-choice questionnaire and for the statistical analysis we used the X2 test. Results 41% of our teenagers do not get enough sleep, while 1/3 of them mention sleep disorders. 64% report strenuous physical activity daily. 43% are smokers [14% occasionally, while 29% are heavy smokers (>10 cigarettes/day)]. 31,5% consume enormous quantities of alcohol, while 62% consume >2 cups of coffee daily. 67% report an every day consumption of fast food with low consumption of fruits and vegetables while only 32% of boys and 23% of girls consume adequate quantities of fruits and vegetables twice a week. 83% consume red meat every day. 95,5% know about the healthy way of living while 28% are found to be over-weighted and 19% present peptic disorders. Conclusions Almost all teenagers of our study group know about the healthy way of living, and the damaging factors concerning their health, but do not follow our advice. That means that we should change our approach towards them.