Nearly 80% of Australians say they want to lose weight but only 10% are concerned about getting diabetes, according to a new survey by AIA Australia.
The AIA Healthy Living Index Survey was conducted with more than 10,000 people across 15 markets in the Asia Pacific region. It measured health satisfaction levels among adults and tracked the extent to which healthy living behaviours were being put into practice.
The survey found that the top health concerns among Australian adults were not exercising enough (46%) and being overweight (36%). But when it came to medical conditions regularly linked to being overweight or obese, such as diabetes and heart disease, Australians were less concerned.
AIA Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Pramodh Nathaniel, said it was a surprise that only 10% of Australians were worried about getting diabetes and only 15% were concerned about experiencing heart problems.
For some reason Australians are not linking their poor lifestyle choices to the end consequence, which is that they are going to get sicker
“Being obese can not only predispose you to a range of serious diseases such as diabetes, which is currently the fastest growing chronic disease in Australia, it can also reduce your life expectancy.
“For some reason they (Australians) are not linking their poor lifestyle choices to the end consequence, which is that they are going to get sicker,” Mr Nathaniel said.
According to the survey, 55% of Australian adults admit they don’t exercise regularly, with tiredness (59%) and being time-poor (53%) cited as the main barriers to physical activity.
Damien Mu, Chief Distribution and Marketing Officer, said it appeared that a lot of people looked at weight-loss from a physical appearance perspective, rather than to address the consequence of severe illness.
Other key findings included:
- Australian adults are generally not satisfied with their health, with the average ‘health satisfaction’ score just 6.3 out of 10 (against a regional average of 7.0)
- 54% of Australians believe their health is worse than it was 5 years ago
- 29% of our population are worried that they do not get enough sleep
The 15 markets surveyed for the report were: Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau and Brunei.
At the same time it released the results, AIA Australia also announced the launch of WeCare, a phone and email-based support service for policy holders, providing them access to counselling and grief support, legal and taxation assistance, help finding home services, and assistance with funeral arrangements.
AIA says it also offers new Priority Protection policy owners a 10% discount on their life insurance if they meet a number of healthy living criteria.
