84% of Lankans believe their health is worse than 5 years ago: AIA survey

Thursday, 28 November 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

An interesting revelation that 84% of adults in Sri Lanka compared to 78% in India were of the opinion that their health is not as good as it was five years ago – even among those under 30 years – came from global research conducted by the Asian insurance giant AIA across 15 out of its 17 markets in Asia including Sri Lanka. The research shed light on people’s attitude towards healthy living paving the way to improved fitness. The survey covered over 10,000 interviews in the region and included face-to-face interviews.

The target group in each market was the general population aged 18 to 65 years across all incomes and education levels. The survey revealed drivers that made a big impact on people’s fitness and life expectancy everywhere – and was of great relevance to Sri Lanka where people are living longer than in most other Asian countries. Findings also revealed that only 61% in Sri Lanka admitted they exercised regularly – a significant drop compared to the regional average of 68%. The number of hours exercised per week was 2.1 hours. This was also below the regional average of three hours. However, the silver lining in the findings was that 95% of adults interviewed admitted that there are definitely things they can do to improve their own health and 79% agreed they do have unhealthy behaviours. However, in spite of the awareness, there was a definite need to nudge people to lead healthier lives. Leading sedentary lifestyles with excessive time spent on the internet – a new addiction which is likely to grow, coupled with easy access to unhealthy food and not enough exercise were among a growing list of threats to healthy living. More importantly, those interviewed expressed that employers, manufacturers and the government can and should play a more active role in helping people to lead healthier lives. “For our part, we are keen to use the findings of research on healthy living constructively to improve the lives of our customers and the community,” AIA in Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Shah Rouf. “Across Asia AIA has been focusing on healthy living and we in Sri Lanka believe this is a vital area for us as an insurer to promote, as we also offer comprehensive health insurance solutions with options of surgical cover for the whole family,” he added.