Healthy Lifestyle and Academic Performance in Middle School Students from the Region of Aragón (Spain)

A healthy lifestyle is important to the present and future development and health of school age people. This study aims to analyze the relationship between daily lifestyle habits and academic performance in a sample of adolescents from the autonomous community of Aragon (Spain). We performed a cross-sectional study to analyze the lifestyle habits and academic performance of a total of 1745 7th and 8th grade middle school students during the academic year 2018–2019; the participants were selected from a random sample of 43 middle schools from the region of Aragon. The following data were collected through an anonymized, previously validated questionnaire: diet, sleep, physical activity, use of screens, use of toxic substances, and academic performance. We found a statistically significant association between all the lifestyle habits analyzed and academic performance (p < 0.001) in our sample. Based on our findings, we suggest that health promotion and education in healthy lifestyles should be integrated in middle school curricula to improve academic performance and, more importantly, to promote both present and future health outcomes of adolescents.