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In recent years, people around the world have paid increasing attention to health-related topics—from exercise, diet, and disease prevention to lifestyle choices and mental well-being. To understand how residents of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) perceive their own health, my company recently released a new “Health Awareness Study”. The study aims to explore respondents' attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors related to health, and to narrow the gap between what people know and what they actually do to pursue a healthy lifestyle.
Awareness Is High, Tho Action Lags Behind
The study found that the overall average health awareness score among respondents was 83.2 points, while Hong Kong respondents scored lower than the GBA average at 79.8 points. Notably, 20% of Hong Kong respondents rated themselves at only a medium-to-low level of health awareness (scores between 0 and 69), a situation that calls for attention.
To live a healthy life, simply being aware of health is not enough—developing and maintaining good habits is just as essential. However, the findings revealed a clear "awareness-action gap." Although 82% of respondents said they were willing to make an effort to stay healthy, many did not take concrete steps. For example, nearly 80% of GBA residents believed that natural or organic foods were beneficial to health, but only slightly over half had actually eaten such foods in the past month, creating a gap of 25 percentage points. Similarly, while 88% of Hong Kong respondents agreed that exercise promotes health, only 68% exercised regularly, showing a significant disconnect between awareness and actual actions.
Don't Ignore Minor Illnesses
The above results indicate that people need to cultivate healthy lifestyle habits through multiple approaches to truly live well. Early planning for medical coverage is also a vital part of maintaining good health. Insurance companies often publish claims reports that provide useful statistical insights into health issues and medical trends.
Prudential’s 2024 H1 Individual Life Claims Report analyzed the claim data for critical illness, hospitalization, and death. It revealed that digestive system diseases were the leading cause of hospitalization claims in the first half of 2024, accounting for over 13,000 cases, or 22% of all claims. Yet, the same Health Awareness Survey showed that only 55% of Hong Kong respondents were concerned about liver or digestive health, suggesting that many underestimate the seriousness of minor ailments.
Maintaining a positive attitude toward health is undoubtedly important, but taking consistent, tangible action is even more crucial when building healthy habits and living a balanced life.
(This article was published in the November 2024 issue of am730)
Note: This article has been converted from Traditional Chinese to English for website language display purposes. For the original content and reference materials, please refer to the Traditional Chinese version of the page.
