Photo by @lukechesser
It’s true that COVID-19 can infect anyone, but those with underlying health conditions are at a higher risk of experiencing severe symptoms. This pandemic has impacted the way many think about health, particularly in daily life.
Many of us are making health a priority, perhaps for the first time. To better understand how coronavirus has affected people’s decisions to boost their health, FitRated conducted a study of 1,000 participants to learn more.
This study found that an overwhelming 82% of people are making attempts to improve their own health. More than half claim this focus is due to increased downtime, while 39% admitted they liked saving money by not buying unhealthy items. On top of this, 34% told interviewers the coronavirus raised concerns about their own health and mortality, and another 34% simply wanted to be healthy in case they became sick with the virus.
The word health itself is rather broad. Over half of those interviewed wanted to improve their overall health, while 18% wanted to focus on mental health, and 15% on boosting their immune systems.
Nearly half of all those interviewed were focused on reducing or eliminating eating processed and fast foods, while 39% decided to reduce or quit drinking soda. The next popular method to increase health was to reduce or quit drinking alcohol, followed by reducing or eliminating smoking cigarettes.
Changing social habits is another aspect of living a healthy life. To reduce unhealthy social stress, 81% of individuals reduced or removed contact from toxic family and friends, 72% increased their sleep, and 63% began exercising in some form.
Overall, the pandemic has shifted the way we view health and has made us more aware of how important a healthy immune system and positive mental state can be.