The report 'Healthy students, healthy life', by Carmel Cefai and Liberato Camilleri, revealed some interesting findings on University students' mental and physical health, such as:

• 90 per cent of students feel healthy and did not miss attending University for more than five days due to physical health problems;

• 65 per cent said they suffered from at least one form of physical or psychological condition, with 18 per cent reporting three or more complaints;

• Back pain is the most common physical health complaint (41 per cent), followed by common infections and allergies;

• Anxiety and depression are the most common psychological conditions;

• Sexually-transmitted diseases, HIV infections and substance abuse are not common health concerns;

• 77 per cent regularly suffer from tiredness and exhaustion;

• 63 per cent often feel nervous;

• 49 per cent have regular headaches;

• 46 per cent often feel 'down';

• 51 per cent said that stress considerably affects their academic work, followed by social health issues, physical complaints, and emotional distress;

• 65 per cent feel happy, satisfied, confident and in control in their lives, but female, first-year and single students are less likely to experience these positive feelings;

• 67 per cent often feel overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed out;

• More than 50 per cent feel regularly exhausted;

• 33 per cent don't sleep enough;

• 25 per cent often feel depressed, helpless or hopeless;

• Eight per cent feel chronically depressed and helpless;

• Four per cent contemplate suicide;

• 67 per cent find University life stressful, of which 33 per cent find it very stressful;

• Female, science/civil sciences and final-year students are more likely to feel stressed;

• The main causes of student stress are: tests and exams (83 per cent), too many assignments and projects (60 per cent), too many lectures (32 per cent), working behind schedule (23 per cent), and travelling and parking problems (22 per cent);

• Talking with friends, and better planning and organisation of study work are the two most frequently mentioned strategies used to cope with stress, followed by positive thinking, time management and family support;

• 25 per cent use both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies, such as studying harder, asking help from lecturers and colleagues, watching television, going out, or praying;

• 20 per cent deal with stress through comfort eating, while 10 per cent smoke and drink alcohol;

• Male students make more use of palliative coping strategies while female students use a more balanced coping style including social support, time management, and better planning;

• Students recommend more knowledge and skills on stress management, more counselling services, more supportive and understanding staff, more information and guidance on their courses, more involvement in decisions, more parking facilities, and more opportunities to practise sports and other extra-curricular activities.

This is part two of a three-part article on the study.