Skip to main content
Intellect

Health benefits Utahns perceive as important often don't translate into healthy behaviors, says BYU study

Utahns who identify exercise and good diet as important to health are often not adopting the very practices they know to be healthy, according to a Brigham Young University study.

Information gathered from 717 Utahns also showed that men who recognize the importance of diet and physical activity are significantly more likely to eat right and exercise than women who responded similarly.

The findings, published in the new issue of the academic journal "Health Promotion Practice," can be useful in developing appropriate age- and gender-specific health education programs.

"Successful programs need to go beyond providing information that motivates a general perception of health behavior," says Ray M. Merrill, associate professor of health science and study author. "Instead, programs should identify the level of motivation people have about adopting healthy practices and try to influence them based on that information."

The study relied on the results of a survey on health perceptions and behavior conducted by the Utah Department of Health. These results were compared with answers to a supplemental question to that survey designed by Utah's Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control - "What are the most important things people like you should do to stay healthy?"

Exercising regularly (82.3 percent) and maintaining a healthy diet (70.6 percent) were the most frequent responses. Avoiding cigarettes (9.4 percent) and excess alcohol intake (3.3 percent), managing stress (6.7 percent), maintaining ideal body weight (4.9 percent) and seeing a doctor regularly (2.9 percent) were also listed as important to good health.

According to the study, of the 82 percent who said that exercising regularly is important, only 31 percent actually exercise regularly. Additionally, of the 71 percent who said that a healthy diet was important, only 21 percent ate five or more fruits or vegetables a day.

"The fact that a high percentage of people said exercise and diet are important didn't translate into a high percentage of people doing these things," says Merrill. "In contrast, very few people mentioned maintaining an ideal weight and seeing a doctor regularly as important to good health, yet a high percentage did these things."

Some factors that may be viewed as important but not sufficient to motivate a person to change behavior include: perceived susceptibility to illness, consequences or seriousness of illness and belief that recommended action will reduce health risks.

"For example, skin cancer is a disease that typically affects people later in life, but its primary cause is acute sun exposure during youth," says Merrill. "But that understanding often doesn't cause kids to use sunscreen or avoid sunburns."

Joining Merrill in the study were Michael Friedrichs and LaDene Larsen, a statistician and a director of health promotion for the Utah Department of Health, respectively.

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Innovative group of BYU students roll out new AI tech to solve parking problems

March 19, 2024
A group of enterprising BYU students aim to significantly — if not entirely — reduce parking violations in paid parking lots, college and otherwise. And their idea, an AI detection and tracking system called Spot Parking (more on that in a minute), just got a major endorsement and $12,000 in cash by winning the 2024 BYU Student Innovator of the Year (SIOY) competition.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Q&A with President Reese on BYU’s undergraduate teaching focus

March 15, 2024
In this Q&A series with President Reese, he shares more about the seven initiatives he shared in his 2023 inaugural response and how they apply to BYU employees.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU math videos aim to transform equations into excitement

March 13, 2024
From calculating the perfect bottle flip to understanding how much force is behind a penny dropped off a skyscraper, Math the World videos creatively answer the age-old math question, “When will I ever use this?”
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=