James Baker, Market Insight Manager at PruHealth asks “Is the health perception gap in the UK widening?”
The Vitality Index is a biannual survey examining the nation's attitudes to health and wellbeing and their actual behaviours. The survey offers a regular snapshot of how the nation is doing, as well as fresh insights into people's attitudes to some of the big health issues. Our hope is not only that this information draws attention to the areas that need more focus, but that it will also raise awareness of where things are improving.
“When we conducted the first Vitality Index research in June 2008, the initial findings highlighted a gap between people’s perceptions of their current state of health and what they do to maintain that health. Just six months on, this health perception gap remains and shows some signs of a potential widening.
While the proportion of adults saying they are in a good state of health remains the same at 69%, those saying that their lifestyle is healthy has decreased slightly from 58% to 56% and those saying their current fitness levels are good, has dropped from 47% to 45%. Alarmingly the percentage of adults saying their current lifestyle is unhealthy has increased significantly from 14% to 18% in just 6 months.
Replicated across the entire adult population of the UK, these findings suggest a staggering two million more people have an unhealthy lifestyle than six months ago, with the most likely cause to be economic recession.
Influencing positive health change is the challenge we face
We can’t dispute that the health of our family and loved ones, and indeed our own health, are of up most importance to us as a nation. Trying to influence the nation to make positive changes to improve their health and fitness levels is, however, a separate challenge.
Highlighting public issues, issuing advice and targets on how to improve health may not be enough. Only 22% of adults say that public health campaigns would encourage them to improve their health and fitness. However, over 50% of adults agreed that rewards and incentives would encourage them to make positive changes to their health.
The challenge must therefore remain seeking out a more sophisticated approach which combines health information with achievable targets and rewards and incentives for achieving these targets.
At PruHealth not only do we provide award-winning health insurance cover for individuals and companies, but we believe that helping people to be healthy and rewarding them for doing so is just as important as looking after them when they're ill. We understand that lack of motivation and lack of time are some of the biggest barriers individuals’ face when it comes to looking after and improving their health. Our unique Vitality programme has been specially designed to help people overcome these barriers by offering substantial savings on a range of health activities and rewards for making positive lifestyle changes.”
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