Latest consumer health report from eHealth Forum reveals die-hard habits negative to general health and wellbeing
5,435 people ticked 33,191 boxes in eHealth Forum’s
latest probe into our lifestyle habits
April 29, 2009: Today, eHealth Forum.com, one of the most popular medical information resources serving the global public, releases the findings of its latest survey looking at how people prioritize their health, well being and vanity. While the results indicate that people are considering their basic health needs, over pampering and grooming, there are some surprisingly negative highlights. The lifestyle choices, identified by 5,435 people responding to 20 questions, indicate that a high number of damaging practices prevail in our day to day habits.
The Good News
- 52.33 percent drink enough water daily
- 40.53 percent take the stairs ahead of the lift
- 38.90 percent get eight hours sleep a night
The Bad News
- We’re still smoking! (over one third)
- And drinking to de-stress (one third)
- We’re not taking the time out to eat properly (one quarter)
- We consume too much caffeine (one fifth)
- And some still insist on using a sunbed or go out to tan without adequate protection!
eHealth Forum is one of the world’s largest and most popular health sites for consumers to research medical questions and Ask a Doctor online about specific health concerns. The site services 2.5 million users every month and since it was established, in 2003, eHealth Forum has received over 150,000 health related questions from regular users and visitors.
We like to look good on the outside. Survey respondents ticked 6,380 boxes (one third of the total count) to indicate their daily beauty regimes. However, on the inside, cigarettes, sun beds, coffee and having an alcoholic drink to unwind are still hard habits to break. Respondents to the survey checked 7,854 boxes in the survey that highlighted lifestyle practices negative to health.
Out of the 5,435 people who took part in the survey the following bad habits were identified:
- Using alcohol to unwind: 31.79 percent or 1,728 people
- Eating on the run: 25.35 percent or 1378 people
- Smoking: 35.66 percent or 1,250 people
- Drinking too much coffee (more than three cups per day): 19.72% or 1,072 people
- We want to tan/use sunbeds: 10 percent, or 479 people
Just over half of those who took part in the survey (52.33%*) admit to drinking the recommended daily amount of water or visit their dentist regularly (41.45%). Nearly half take the stairs instead of the elevator or lift where possible (40.53%), manage eight hours sleep a night (38.90%), prefer healthy eating (35.03%), have an optimistic attitude to life (33.45%), use sunscreen and make an effort to protect their skin (30.84%). A third will exercise for more than an hour each day (29.16%) and take vitamins and supplements (25.94%) and a fifth (21.32%) of those surveyed made sure they spent quality time alone each day. *Indicates number of ticked boxes in each section of the poll.
“I think that people are increasingly making healthy lifestyle choices as part of a general social trend that accepts this as the norm,” says Dr Andrijana Sterjovkska-Aleksovska, a family doctor.
“New media outlets like the internet reinforce what doctors like myself has been saying all along: preventative medicine and taking care of yourself are key to health and wellness. And people seem to be listening.”
eHealthForum was established in 2003 to help preserve and improve human life by bringing health-related information to all people via the internet. Health information on the site includes the Ask a Doctor forums, where members receive answers to medical questions from qualified experts for free.
Ends
More
About the poll
These results are unbiased and collected anonymously from visitors to eHealth Forum. The vanity vs. health survey was implemented to find out how well we look after our general health in comparison to beauty rituals and unhealthy habits. The survey was conducted in the US, UK and Canada between January 30 and April 3 2009. 5,435 respondents took part. Poll results can be found here: medical information poll
About eHealthForum.com
eHealthForum is a top 10,000 health reference site that reaches over 1.75 M monthly users in the U.S., 300,000 users in the U.K. and 200,000 users in Canada. Typical visitors to eHealthForum are aged 18-45 and over 70 percent are female. Men make up 30 percent of the site’s average visitors.
More information
For a graph showing these statistics, and or more information, please contact … PR@ehealthforum.com
