Bad habits have been thrown back into the spotlight after South Africa was ranked in the top 10 countries with unhealthy habits.
The study, conducted by medical aid comparison platform MedicalAid.com, looked at habits including alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking, obesity levels and sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates.
It used data on these habits from the World Health Organisation and online data provider Wisevoter.
“We’ve conducted a study looking at five separate habits that are detrimental to human health across 50 countries. These factors are combined into an overall ‘Unhealthy Lifestyle Score’, revealing the countries with the healthiest and least healthy lifestyles overall,” it said.
While some agreed we are a unhealthy nation, others said some habits were worse than others.
Preliminary findings of a study looking into e-cigarette use and unhealthy diets suggested advertising, curiosity and social influence were some of the reasons many young people started vaping. The study was conducted by the University of Pretoria.
A new tax on nicotine vaping fluids came into effect this month.
Another study looked at eating habits, suggesting a protein-rich diet could help stop people waking up while asleep.
“For a long time, scientists have been guided by the principle that sleep is of the brain, by the brain, and for the brain ... [but] of course it’s about the whole body,” says neurobiologist and co-author Dragana Rogulja, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School in the US.
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.