J Contemp Med Edu ● Vol 5 ● Issue 2 ● 2017 39 Journal of Contemporary Medical Education DOI: 10.5455/jcme.20170612092613 www.scopemed.org INTRODUCTION Medical school education is highly demanding and often results in high rates of personal stress [1-4]. The demands of a medical school education have raised the interest of researchers looking into how medical students respond to such demands [5]. Several harmful behavioral responses to the stresses of medical school have been identified, including a lack of sleep, increased substance abuse, and social isolation [6]. Increased levels of student stress have also been associated with reduced academic performance and professionalism during medical school [7-10]. Existing research examining the health habits of medical students structured around health guidelines is dated and was done in schools outside of Canada and the USA making its relevance to contemporary Canadian and American medical school education uncertain [11]. Research has shown that healthy lifestyle programs are well received by students and are effective in improving health and well-being [12,13]. However, there has been a slow and uneven introduction of these programs at North American medical schools [14]. For these programs to be maximally successful, they should be based on research about the specific health challenges that the students encounter. Previous studies have shown that many indicators of student health decline as they enter medical school [15]. It is not clear, however, whether these declines are large enough to make students noncompliant with established guidelines for healthy living. These provide benchmarks for determining if a behavior places an individual at risk of increased morbidity, and in the case of medical students, increased stress and reduced performance [7-10]. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to determine the proportion of medical students in Canada and the USA that are meeting recommended health guidelines during operating room rotations. The results will then be used to identify specific areas of concern and make recommendations where possible. METHODS We selected several lifestyle factors to study, which included exercise, sleep, diet, caffeine consumption, and alcohol consumption. These factors were chosen because public health organizations identify them as risk factors for the most common chronic diseases (i.e., cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases) [16]. Evidence that each lifestyle factor was being optimized for health was indicated through compliance with a guideline for healthy living related to this factor. Sources for these guidelines came from a number of respected health organizations. The organizations and their associated guidelines are listed in Table 1. This was a substudy of a larger study examining disruptive behavior in the perioperative setting. The survey received Health habits of medical students during operating room rotations Colin Hamlin, Alexander Villafranca, Eric Jacobsohn Original Research Department of Anesthesiology, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada Address for correspondence: Eric Jacobsohn, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Manitoba, 671 William Avenue Room AE201, 2 nd Floor, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0Z2, Canada. Phone: 204-787-4930. Fax: 204-787-4826. E-mail: ejacobsohn@ exchange.hsc.mb.ca Received: August 09, 2016 Accepted: December 11, 2016 Published: June 20, 2017 ABSTRACT Purpose: Healthy lifestyle habits have been linked with enhanced learning during medical school, motivating some schools to institute healthy self-care programs for students. This study examined the health habits of medical students in the USA and Canada during operating room rotations and compared the results with recommended health guidelines. Methods: The authors created a survey examining markers of a healthy lifestyle. The questions were derived from scientific guidelines and pertained to getting adequate amounts of exercise and sleep, and abstaining from excessive consumption of junk food, caffeine, and alcohol. Several sociodemographic predictors of compliance with health habits were examined using logistic regression. Results: A total of 543 students completed the survey. The proportions of students meeting recommended health guidelines for each health habit were as follows: Alcohol (79.2%), caffeine (51.3%), food (47.6%), sleep (38.2%), and exercise (18.6%). The proportion of students meeting all health guidelines concurrently was 4.1% and the proportion meeting none was 4.8%. Men had a lower risk of not meeting the majority of the health guidelines (odds ratio [OR] = 0.66, P = 0.018) and older students (OR = 2.17, P = 0.012) were at a higher risk. Conclusions: The vast majority of the medical students surveyed were not in compliance with healthy lifestyle guidelines during operating room rotations. This research supports the need for healthy self-care programs for medical students and specifically draws attention to the importance of physical activity. KEY WORDS: Alcohol, caffeine, diet, exercise, health habits, medical student, sleep