Health, for 57% of Italians, nutrition is the main factor for staying fit

Taking care of your health requires paying attention to many different factors: from having a balanced lifestyle to prevention, from staying active to eating healthily. And nutrition seems to be the aspect on which Italians focus most, according to research by the Osservatorio Sanità of UniSalute and Nomisma: almost six out of ten (57%) indicate having a healthy and balanced diet as one of the main measures to take care of yourself, with fruit and vegetables playing a central role in the daily life of 63%.

66% say they avoid eating salty snacks and almost half (47%) also limit sweets. Italians, however, do not give up cereal derivatives - such as pasta, bread and rice - regularly included in the eating habits of 86%. Less importance, however, is given to physical activity : 21% admit to being completely sedentary, while 42% limit themselves to practicing sports occasionally or, at most, to exercising when they can. Only 37% say they do sports regularly, a figure that is still up compared to the 29% of the latest survey by the Observatory (December 2023), even if women (32%) still tend to do less sporting activity than men (42%).

In addition to diet and exercise, 41% focus on a balanced lifestyle between work, free time and personal care, while 40% say they actively avoid harmful behaviors such as smoking or alcohol abuse. 25% recognize sleep as a fundamental ally, and for this reason try to improve the quality of their rest.

When asked about their perception of their state of health as a result of these choices, 87% said they were in at least “good” physical health, while only one in three (34%) defined their health as “very good” or “excellent”. The situation worsens when looking at mental health , with over one in five (21%) judging their psychological state as “mediocre” or “terrible”. The big culprit is stress : for almost half of the sample (47%) it is the factor that most influences general health.