Around 70 per cent of global deaths are linked to four lifestyle behaviours: physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, alcohol abuse and smoking. These behaviors have a profound impact on the health of society.

So how do we prevent unhealthy behaviors from further solidifying into unhealthy lifestyle habits?

Developing good exercise habits helps improve overall health, and it’s never too late to start exercising.

Social and health conditions are deteriorating. Today, 70 percent of global deaths are caused by four lifestyle behaviors: inactivity, unhealthy diet, alcohol abuse and smoking. These behaviors have a profound impact on the health of society and increase the strain on the healthcare system.

Life is already full of information about the importance of diet, exercise and mental health, but there is still a huge gap between what we know and what we actually do. So, how do we prevent unhealthy behaviors from further solidifying into unhealthy lifestyle habits that harm our health?

To explore ways to develop healthy habits, the Discovery Vitality programme, in partnership with the London School of Economics, studied the habits of more than one million Vitality members in South Africa and the UK over a decade.

The Vitality Habits Index shows that behavioral changes have a bigger impact on health and mortality than we thought, and developing good exercise habits can help improve overall health.

How do good exercise habits affect overall health

The study showed that people who changed their behavior and maintained a moderate-intensity exercise routine were 27 percent less likely to die from common causes.

The effects of exercise are amplified with age. For example, maintaining a moderate-intensity exercise routine for more than three years was associated with a 38 percent reduction in mortality among people aged 45-64 and a nearly 52 percent reduction over age 65. Therefore, the impact of healthy habits is uneven, and the older and sicker people are, the more benefits they can gain by changing their lifestyle habits.

It is encouraging that good habits can protect our physical health. Walking 7,500 steps five days a week for two years reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 41 percent and stage 4 cancer by 36 percent.

The effect of exercise on mortality. Image: Discovery

Step count is a global measure of physical activity and improving health, and the data captures the power of something as simple as walking.

The data showed that walking 7,500 steps a day significantly reduced mortality, and the older the age, the better the effect.

But the study also cautions against setting too high a goal for those who don’t exercise or are less active, as the mortality reduction plateoffs between 7,500 and 8,000 steps.
Walking 7,500 steps a day was associated with a significant reduction in mortality, and the greater the age, the greater the impact. Image: Discovery

That said, the 10,000 step goal is a myth that can blind us to the power of small changes.

How to make people develop good health habits

Understanding the benefits of healthy habits is not enough. So how can we drive behavioral change to get people to adopt good health habits? First, understand how habits work.

It takes 7-15 weeks to form a habit, and more than 80% of participants are able to form a permanent habit within this time. A deeper analysis showed that of these participants, about 75 percent formed a fixed habit within 10 weeks.

Further research has shown that the key to good habits is gradual, sustained behavior change, with incentives often guaranteeing a head start. Incremental progress pushes people to higher achievement and reduces the probability of giving up halfway.

Trying to take an extra 800 steps a day makes it much harder to create good habits that last. Those who took it slow and increased their intensity were more likely to get into the habit and stick with it 1.5 times longer than those who started out with intense, eager workouts.

Our data also show that the power of good habits is long-lasting and tends to outlast bad habits. Moreover, habits (good and bad) are ingrained. For example, after the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 50 percent of the study participants returned to their pre-pandemic behaviors.

Develop healthy habits to improve public health

These findings provide compelling evidence to governments and health policy makers to help promote healthy habits and improve public health.

The study offers a core strategy for anyone wanting to start an exercise habit. The ladder method is the most effective way to develop and adhere to a fixed habit, which can lead to positive health effects. The key is:

Set a goal based on your health. Start small and choose an exercise that is easy and feasible. Focus on maintaining your exercise frequency and sticking to it. Repeat the exercise for 6 to 8 weeks and try to increase the intensity again.

Governments and policymakers should also consider targeted, short-term incentive programs to encourage people to gradually adopt habits with significant health benefits. At the same time, governments and policymakers should also invest in urban environmental and well-being programs to foster active lifestyles.

Businesses also have an important role to play in improving the health of society. By developing a health and well-being strategy, organizations can target effective interventions to protect and improve employee health.

This includes incorporating exercise into workplace well-being programs and daily activities to improve employee mental health and increase productivity. This strategy requires data and reporting mechanisms to support monitoring progress and understanding related impacts.

We need to change the way we think about personal health and, where necessary, reframe heuristics (a simplified mind-set that makes judgments quickly and efficiently).

Maintaining good health is not difficult or expensive. We can start small and slowly change our behavior. Moreover, we should not assume that the older and infirm the less likely people are to benefit from good behavior. You know, it’s never too late to start changing.