How Well Do You Score on Healthy Lifestyle Characteristics?

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A new study on cardiovascular disease in the United States should be a call-to-action for 97.3 percent of Americans to make healthier lifestyle choices. The researchers found that only 2.7 percent of the U.S. adult population achieves four basic behavioral characteristics that the researchers identify as markers of a "healthy lifestyle" which helps protect against cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and around the world. In America, one in four people die of heart disease each year. However, more than half of all deaths in the U.S. are the result of heart disease in men.

The March 2016 study, “Healthy Lifestyle Characteristics and Their Joint Association With Cardiovascular Disease Biomarkers in US Adults,” was published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

This study was conducted by scientists from Oregon State University (OSU) and the University of Mississippi. The researchers examined what percentage of adults succeed in four general barometers that help to define healthy behavior.

Four Markers of a Healthy Lifestyle

1. A good diet
2. Moderate exercise
3. A recommended percentage of body fat
4. Being a non-smoker

How would you rate yourself based on these four markers? Most people in this study accomplished one or more of the four basic lifestyle goals, such as not smoking or being sufficiently active. However, the most alarming aspect of this study was how few people accomplished all four of the healthy lifestyle goals.

Only 2.7 percent of the adults had all four healthy lifestyle characteristics; 16 percent had three; 37 percent had two; 34 percent had one; and 11 percent had none. All told, a total of 71 percent of adults did not smoke; 46 percent were sufficiently active; 38 percent ate a healthy diet; and 10 percent had a healthy body fat percentage.

In a press release, Ellen Smit, Ph.D., R.D., senior author on the study and an associate professor in the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences, said,

"We weren't looking for marathon runners. The behavior standards we were measuring for were pretty reasonable, not super high.

From the perspective of public health, the findings of the research were not encouraging. This is pretty low, to have so few people maintaining what we would consider a healthy lifestyle. This is sort of mind boggling. There's clearly a lot of room for improvement."

The results of this study were based on a large study group that included 4,745 people from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It also included several behaviors that were measured by the researchers, rather than just relying solely on self-reported feedback.

For example, measurements of activity were obtained using an accelerometer, a device people wore to determine their actual level of movement, with a goal of 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity a week. Body fat was measured with sophisticated X-ray absorptiometry. A healthy diet was defined as being in the top 40 percent of people who ate foods recommended by the USDA.

The lifestyle characteristics were then compared to "biomarkers" of cardiovascular health. Some of these biomarkers are commonplace, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels. Others were more sophisticated, such as C-reactive protein, fasting triglycerides, homocysteine and other state-of-the-art data that can expose cardiovascular risk. The strongest correlation for healthy levels of HDL and total cholesterol was linked with having a healthy percentage of body fat.

Conclusion: The More Healthy Lifestyle Choices You Make, the Better

"I would expect that the more healthy lifestyles you have, the better your cardiovascular biomarkers will look," Smit concluded. The researchers found that having three or four healthy lifestyles, compared to none, was associated with significantly better cardiovascular risk biomarkers. Having at least one or two healthy lifestyle characteristics—compared to none—was also associated with better levels of some cardiovascular risk biomarkers.

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I've spent my adult life trying to motivate people of all ages to be more physically active and make healthier lifestyle choices. If you need a dose of inspiration to become more proactive about increasing your healthy lifestyle behaviors, check out my previous Psychology Today blog posts,

• "What Motivates People to Make Healthier Lifestyle Choices?"
• "Motivation Is Tied to the Strength of Your Brain Connections"
• "Subliminal Cues Impact Motivation, Endurance, and Longevity"
• "The Neuroscience of Music Mindset, and Motivation"
• "7 Habits for a Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body"
• "Carpe Diem! 30 Reasons to Seize the Day and How to Do It"

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