Introduction:

isolation brought methodological changes in the development of traditional study plans to virtual educational strategies, which could affect mental health, sleep habits and physical activity levels during the COVID-19 pandemic in university students.

Objective:

to determine the mental health status, sleep habits and level of physical activity during virtual education by COVID-19 in undergraduate students of the medical program of a public university in the department of Cauca.

Method:

descriptive study, conducted with 268 students from the medicine program selected by non-probabilistic sampling, who filled out a survey through the Google questionnaire platform, which contained 54 questions divided into three components: demographic and isolation characteristics; mental health status; sleeping habits and level of physical activity.

Results:

58.6% of the student population felt tired for no apparent reason; 41.8% sometimes had difficulty falling asleep; more than half of the population presented mood swings; 48.5% (n=130) did not perform physical activity. In addition, a relationship was found between mental health and sleep habits, finding statistical significance between anxiety and changes in appetite.

Conclusions:

virtual education during the pandemic, produced alterations in sleep habits, mood changes (sadness, anxiety, irritability and fear), a low level of physical activity, in addition, a relationship was found between emotional changes, appetite and sleep habits.

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