Lifestyle and Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Secondary School Teachers in Uzo-Umahi LGA of Enugu State, Nigeria

A cross sectional, descriptive study was carried out on rural secondary teachers in Uzo – Umahi LGA of Enugu State, Nigeria. The study was designed to elicit information on lifestyle, prevalence of overweight and obesity using questionnaire. The results showed that majority of the male teachers (70.2%) consume alcohol while soft drink was consumed majorly among the female teachers (74.7%). Smoking was low (2.1%). Meal skipping was generally high (males 63.8%; females 59%). Lunch was most skipped among the male teachers (31.9%) while breakfast was most skipped among the females. Major reason for skipping meal was attributed to lack time. Report on physical activities showed that more male teachers (87.2%) participate in exercise than the female teachers (66.3%); with many of them spending about 60 -120minutes on exercise per week. Prevalence of overweight and obesity grade 1 was more in the female teachers (36.1 and 7.2%). Results on waist-hip ratio classification (WHR) showed that majority of the male teachers (91.5%) were at low risk of having cardiovascular diseases, while majority of the female teachers (75.9%) were at high risk of cardiovascular diseases. There was significant relationship between socioeconomic status with physical exercise, time spent on exercise and meals skipped