Living a Healthy Lifestyle - How to Conduct Self-Diagnosis

Do you lead a healthy lifestyle?

That’s a hard question for many to answer.

If you try to watch what you eat, don’t smoke, don’t drink much, get a fair amount of exercise and are not overweight, you can probably guess that you’re on the healthier end of the scale. But what if you can’t check off all of those boxes?

It’s an important question to answer, because your overall balance of healthy vs. unhealthy choices is important.

In a study of more than 60,000 people over many years, the American Heart Association concluded that of people with the most desirable lifestyle features — nonsmokers who eat a healthy diet, get lots of exercise and maintain a healthy body weight — men were 62 percent less likely to develop heart failure and women were 72 percent less likely.

And good health is about more than just avoiding disease. Healthy people generally experience a higher quality of life as well. A 2012 study of more than 19,000 people published in the journal Population Health Management concluded that people with unhealthy eating habits are 66 percent more likely to experience reduced productivity at work, while those who get little exercise are 50 percent more likely to slip in productivity.

You could start with a quiz to check your lifestyle for positive health habits.

Healthfinder.gov, the website of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, leads you through a series of lifestyle questions in its Everyday Healthy Living Quiz, ranging from whether you smoke to where you store your medicine. The quiz is unscored, but the site will customize a list of healthy tips for you based on your answers.

If you’re the type who prefers to be scored on a 1 to 10 scale, try the University of Rochester’s Healthy Lifestyle Quiz. Be ready to answer questions on similar topics and be ready to feel the heat of a low score if you don’t measure up.

All of this, of course, assumes that you are starting from a healthy baseline. If you are starting with some health issues, NYXT.nyc’s content partners can connect you with resources to find your healthiest path going forward.

Healtheo360, for example, is an online space where people with chronic health conditions can connect with others experiencing similar issues. Members share advice and experiences through blog posts and video entries on the site and on NYXT.nyc. You can find information on a variety of chronic conditions, along with advice on topics like weight loss, heart health and stress management. With a membership, you can also get pharmacy and rental car discounts, physician directories and other perks that make dealing with a medical condition a little easier.

NYXT.nyc is also a gateway to organizations that can help with information and community resources for a variety of specific issues, such as the National Kidney Foundation, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Orbis International and Path2Parenthood. Check them out some of their videos on NYXT.nyc’s main Health page, or catch NYXT on cable for programming that is most relevant to you.

Get Healthy

Sources:

https://healthfinder.gov/HealthTopics/Quiz/Question/everyday-healthy-living-quiz/
https://www.rochester.edu/uhs/healthtopics/GeneralHealth/files/HealthyLifestyleQuiz.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/12/health-workplace-productivity-eating-nutrition-exercise_n_1752749.html
http://circheartfailure.ahajournals.org/content/9/4/e002855

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