Live healthily in midlife to be healthy at 70

In West Sussex:

  • 64% of the adult population is overweight or obese;
  • 17% of the adult population smoke; and
  • 27% of adults are inactive.

Around 40% of all deaths in England are related to behaviour.1

The NHS spends more than £11bn a year on treating illnesses caused by the effects of diet, inactivity, smoking and drinking alcohol.2

Monday 7 March marked the launch of ‘One You’, a ground-breaking new campaign to help adults across the country avoid future diseases caused by modern day life. Everyday habits and behaviours – such as eating too much unhealthy food, drinking more than is recommended, continuing to smoke and not being active enough – are responsible for around 40% of all deaths in England,1 and cost the NHS more than £11 billion a year.2 ‘One You’ aims to encourage adults, particular those in middle age, to take control of their health to enjoy significant benefits now, and in later life.

In West Sussex 17% of adults smoke, 27% are inactive and 64% are obese or overweight. Approximately 4000 adults have died in West Sussex in the two years from 2012 – 2014 from causes that are preventable.

The new campaign from Public Health England will help adults in West Sussex to move more, eat well, drink less and be smoke free. One You will also provide information on how people can reduce their stress levels and sleep better.

It is encouraging adults to start by taking a new online health quiz, called ‘How Are You’. This innovative quiz provides personalised recommendations based on your results and directs people to tools and advice to help them take action where it’s most needed. Over half (56%) of 40-60 year olds taking the ‘How Are You’ quiz said they were likely to change their lifestyle to improve their health because of the feedback it gave them.4

Take the ‘How Are You’ online quiz and read more about One You.

References

1 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBD Compare – Public Health England. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, 2015. Available at: http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare [Last Accessed: 11 February 2016]

2 A sum of £3.5bn (alcohol costs), £2bn (smoking costs) and £6.1bn (Overweight and obesity) which are the biggest lifestyle risks. This figure does not take into consideration the cost of diet and physical activity as this overlaps with obesity and diabetes costs

3 Lang, I. A., et al. (2012). “Healthy behaviours in middle age: Long-term consequences for functioning and mortality.” Age and Ageing 41.

4 Survey conducted by TNS BMRB with 1614 adults aged 40-60 in England from 29 January – 1 February 2016, using the Lightspeed GMI online panel. Data was weighted to be representative by age, gender, social grade and region. 893 respondents completed the HAY tool.