A healthy lifestyle is the key to good wellbeing
We all know the importance of exercise, not just to lose weight, but for a healthy heart too. New research has found that one in seven who are not exercising are losing 7.4 years off their life.
PruHealth have developed a new and unique calculator which enables you to get a true picture of your health by taking into account certain risk factors like BMI, exercise levels and nutrition, alongside this they also carried out a survey of 10,00 employees.
In the research they found that the average Brit has a vitality age of 4 years older than their actual age, which means they are essentially losing four years of their lives.
It also revealed that the biggest contributing factor for a higher Vitality Age in the UK is lack of physical activity and being overweight.
Dr Katie Tryon, PruHealth head of clinical Vitality says: “We all lead busy lifestyles trying to squeeze in as much as possible and thinking about your health can sometimes take a back seat. Often when you’re feeling up against it, it’s tempting to compensate by having a glass of wine or cigarette, or take a few shortcuts by grabbing an unhealthy snack or skipping the gym, but it’s these lifestyle choices that ultimately impact on our health. Our research shows that over one in five UK workers have a Vitality Age that is over 8 years older than their actual age.
“It’s interesting to see that the Vitality Age difference is not necessarily higher for those who are older. Those in their 30s and 40s, who should be at the prime of life are letting their health suffer – perhaps prioritising a stressful job, or having to manage the pressures of new parenthood or both. Our research has highlighted that those in their 60s are closer, in terms of their health risk age difference, to those in their 20s. Perhaps, believing youth to no longer be on their side, they are more conscientious when it comes to life choices. However, no matter what age, this should be the case for everyone.”
Also, something else pretty worrying that emerged from the survey was that that two thirds (66%) of Brits are in denial and believe they are in good or excellent health, despite showing two or more risk factors that could increase their chances of getting a disease. With over two-thirds of smokers refusing to give up; nearly two thirds are unwilling to change their eating habits and over a third are not willing to change their exercise habits.
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