Healthy lifestyle culture in universities as institutional normativity: a sociological systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Student wellbeing has become an important focus of higher education research; however, existing studies remain largely behavior-oriented and provide limited explanation of how health-related practices are socially produced within university environments. This study aimed to examine how institutional normativity, social norms, and organizational contexts shape healthy lifestyle practices among university students from a sociological perspective. METHODS: A PRISMA-informed systematic review was conducted using Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, Sociological Abstracts, and Google Scholar to identify relevant studies published between 2010 and 2025. Following a structured selection process, 64 studies were included in the final thematic synthesis. RESULTS: The findings indicate that students' practices related to sleep, stress management, physical activity, help-seeking, and substance use are socially organized rather than purely individual behaviors. Universities shape these practices by establishing cultural expectations, institutional routines, and organizational conditions that normalize productivity, digital over-availability, and chronic stress while simultaneously influencing unequal opportunities to maintain healthy lifestyles across different student groups. CONCLUSION: The review demonstrates that student wellbeing is embedded within broader processes of institutional governance, social stratification, and everyday practice rather than individual responsibility alone. By integrating fragmented evidence into a coherent sociological framework, this review advances understanding of universities as active producers of student health practices and highlights the importance of institutional approaches for promoting sustainable student wellbeing.