Lifestyle Habits Diet, physical activity and sleep duration among Omani adolescents

Objectives: this study aimed to investigate the lifestyle habits—physical activity (pa), eating habits(eh), and sleep duration (sd)—of omani adolescents, and to examine gender differences in such variables. methods: 802 omani adolescents (442 females and 360 males), aged 15‒18 years were randomly recruited. anthropometric indices, pa level, and eh and sd were evaluated by the arab teenage lifestyle questionnaire. a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for dietary assessment was also administered. results: the results showed that although the study subjects had a sedentary lifestyle (lack of pa, average of 6.7 hours sleep, and consumption of high calorie foods), they maintained a normal body mass (less than 25 kg/m2). males were more than twice as active as females. with respect to eh, there were few gender differences, except in dairy and meat consumption where 62.5% and 55.5% of males consumed more than 3 servings, respectively, compared to 18.78 % and 35.2% of females, respectively. in addition, waist/height ratio, height, reasons for being active, energy drinks, potato consumption, eating sweets, vigorous pa and breakfast ehs were statistically significant independent predictors for bmi, p <0.05 for both males and females. conclusion: this study revealed a high prevalence of sedentary behaviors and a low level of physical activity, especially among females. unhealthy dietary habits were also widely found among both genders. there is an urgent need for more research as well as a national policy promoting active living and healthy eating and discouraging sedentary behaviour among omani adolescents.