Healthier lifestyles ‘will outlast lockdown’

Author:
AIGAIG

Thursday 17 December 2020

 

  • One in three will definitely maintain good health habits after coronavirus crisis
  • AIG’s free Smart Health app offers fitness and nutrition advice

 

Research1 from UK life insurer AIG Life Limited shows coronavirus restrictions have driven a rise in healthier living which people are keen to maintain when the crisis is over.

Nearly one in three adults (30%) plan to definitely keep up healthy lifestyle habits they have adopted during the coronavirus crisis and another 48% are aiming to try to live more healthily in the aftermath.

Under-35s are slightly more likely at 32% to keep up the health changes but even among the over-55s around 29% are committed to improving their lifestyles because of coronavirus.

The most popular health improvement reported by the study is going on regular walks – nearly half (46%) of adults say they are walking more with the over-55s the most enthusiastic at 52%.

However, 29% of adults say they are eating more healthily and 16% have cut down on alcohol consumption. Just 16% of people questioned said they had taken no action to improve health during the ongoing crisis.

The biggest threat to maintaining healthy habits as coronavirus eases is lack of time, the research found. Around one in five (18%) say they will struggle to find time to exercise once normality returns.

AIG Life believes the interest in healthier lifestyles builds on growing acceptance that people need to take more responsibility for living healthily, and its free Smart Health app offers support with fitness plans and nutrition advice.

Customers and their families wanting help to live more healthily can get tailored four or eight-week fitness plans as well as weekly menu plans.

 

Sue Helmont, Marketing Director at AIG Life, commented:

'The restrictions on daily life have been hard for all of us. But it’s a testament to people’s resilience and willingness to adapt that so many of us have taken action ourselves to improve our health and are committed to maintaining those changes when life eventually returns to something like normal.'

'Keeping up healthier habits is challenging and takes continued willpower so it’s not a surprise that one in 10 of us started lockdown with good health intentions but couldn’t keep good habits up. This pandemic has shown us that we need to consciously manage our health and wellbeing. There are plenty of sources of advice and help out there including Smart Health from AIG. If people stick with it, they will see the benefits to their health over time.'

 

1 Research conducted by Consumer Intelligence among a representative sample of 986 adults aged 18+ between 28th and 31st August 2020