Lifestyles and health

behavior

Iram Abbas (Clinical Psychologist)

Lecturer Applied psychology GCUF.
 * What are health behaviors

Kasl and Cobb (1966) defined three types of

health related behaviors.
They suggested that;
i: a health behavior is a behavior aimed at
preventing disease (e.g. eating a healthy diet);
ii: an illness behavior is a behavior aimed at
seeking a remedy (e.g. going to the doctor);
iii: a sick role behavior is an activity aimed at
getting well (e.g. taking prescribed medication
or resting).
*Health behaviors have also being
defined by Matarazzo (1984) in terms of
either:
*Health impairing habits, which he called
"behavioral pathogens" (for example
smoking, eating a high fat diet), or
*Health protective behaviors, which he
defined as "behavioral immunogens"
(e.g. attending a health check).
 *Behavior and mortality
* 50% of mortality from the 10 leading causes of death
is due to behavior.
Doll and Peto (1981) estimated that 75% of cancer
deaths were related to behavior. 90% of all lung
cancer mortality is attributable to cigarette smoking,
which is also linked to other illnesses such as
cancers of the bladder, pancreas, mouth, and
oesophagus and coronary heart disease.
Bowel cancer is linked to behaviors such as a diet
high in total fat, high in meat and low in fiber
 Lifestyle and health
* About 50% of premature deaths in
western countries can be attributed to
lifestyle (Hamburg et al., 1982).
Smokers, on average, reduce their life
expectancy by five years and individuals
who lead a sedentary (i.e. none active)
lifestyle by two to three years (Bennett
and Murphy, 1997).
 *Holy Four
 Four behaviors in particular are associated with
disease:
i: smoking,
ii: alcohol misuse,
iii: poor nutrition and
iv: lower levels of exercise;
these are called the “holy four”.
Conversely, rarely eating between meals, sleeping
for seven to eight hours each night, and eating
breakfast nearly every day have been associated
with good health and longevity (Breslow and
Enstrom 1980).
 *Belloc and Breslow (1972)
* Belloc and Breslow (1972)
conducted an epidemiological
study asking a representative
sample of 6928 residents of
Almeida County, California whether
they engaged in the following
seven health practices:
*1. Sleeping seven to eight hours daily
2. Eating breakfast almost every day
*3. Never or rarely eating between
meals
*4. Currently being at or near
prescribed height adjusted weight
*5. Never smoking cigarettes
*6. Moderate or no use of alcohol
*7. Regular physical activity.