LIFESTYLE AND NUTRITIONAL HABITS OF SOCCER PLAYERS IN NORTHERN CYPRUS

Abstract

To assess lifestyle habits of football players in Northern Cyprus, 232 footballers from 14 teams taking part in the local football Super League were questioned about their smoking and eating habits, alcohol intake, and ability to tolerate stress. The results revealed that more than half of the participants had healthy behaviour in terms of all questioned parameters, except smoking preferences. Almost two thirds of the footballers used various tobacco products and/or did not avoid smoking-field environment. This is close to the rate of smokers in the general population of Cyprus. The observed high rate of smoking consumption could be attributed both to cultural and sports specific factors, and to the failure of local soccer players to distinguish between recreational and performance sport, in the present period of transition into professional soccer in Northern Cyprus.