Abstract
Introduction: Managing working and personal life can result in conflicting demands for young medical students. An increasing number of students report concerns about the amount of stress in their life. This study was conducted to examine smoking and caffeine consumption and their relationship with stress as stress coping mechanisms among medical students. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of stress and its association with cigarette and caffeine substances induced behaviors. Substances found in cigarettes and caffeinated drinks (nicotine, caffeine, etc.) can trigger different neurological and endocrinological pathways which result in release or inhibition of other neuroactive substances, such as dopamine or adenosine, or hormones like cortisol. Methods: The data was collected from the original questioner created by the authors of this paper, which consisted of questions exploring stress symptoms, food, drink and tobacco related behavior patterns. Results: The statistical analysis of the collected data shows slightly different smoking patterns in male and female participants, but significant disproportion in genders when it comes to caffeinated drinks. The study concludes that there is a significant stress impact on caffeine and cigarette consumption, and thus affecting general health of the average medical student. Conclusion: It is necessary to provide and familiarize students with different stress-coping programs, which will in term have no, or less, side effects on their health and make the academic environment more suitable for coping with stress.
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Assistant professor, Azra Kurtić mentored and finalized the review for this paper. Major aspect of her contribution was helping the authors with the statistical analysis of the results. She helped the authors every step along the way in a process of writing this paper, as well as gave her feedback on the early drafts.
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Šabić, L., Mujanović, A. (2020). Smoking and Caffeine Consumption as Stress Coping Mechanisms in Medical Students. In: Badnjevic, A., Škrbić, R., Gurbeta Pokvić, L. (eds) CMBEBIH 2019. CMBEBIH 2019. IFMBE Proceedings, vol 73. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17971-7_102
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