Britain is a nation of all talk and no action when it comes to health and wellbeing, an NHS survey has concluded.
The poll by new online service NHS MidLifeCheck has found that, despite almost half of adults believing they need to think more about leading a healthy lifestyle, the same proportion admitted to spending a lot more time talking about it than doing anything about it. And one-third of adults said they wouldn’t know where to start.
Nearly half of women aged 45 to 64 said they were more inclined to give advice about being healthy than take it, compared with nearly a third of men.
People aged about 40 were much less knowledgeable about their own health and fitness than their parents, with nearly seven in 10 having no idea about their blood pressure, compared with more than a quarter of people over 65. They also spent more time worrying about it.
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Top of the list of concerns for “mid-lifers” as they got older was keeping fit and active (81%), followed by staying slim and emotional wellbeing.
NHS MidLifeCheck is a free confidential website where people can get advice on health, diet and well-being, with users following a multiple-choice lifestyle questionnaire and then receiving personal results and advice.