Researchers from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research analysed data on the diet, exercise and personality type of more than 7000 people.<\/p>\n The study found those who believe their life can be changed by their own actions ate healthier food, exercised more, smoked less and avoided binge drinking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark, Director of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, said those who have a greater faith in ‘luck’ or ‘fate’ are more likely to live an unhealthy life.<\/p>\n “Our research shows a direct link between the type of personality a person has and a healthy lifestyle<\/strong>,” she said.<\/p>\n Professor Cobb-Clark hoped the study would help inform public health policies on conditions such as obesity.<\/p>\n “The main policy response to the obesity epidemic has been the provision of better information, but information alone is insufficient to change people’s eating habits,” she said.<\/p>\n “Understanding the psychological underpinning of a person’s eating patterns and exercise habits is central to understanding obesity.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n The study also found men and women hold different views on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n Men wanted physical results from their healthy choices, while women were more receptive to the everyday enjoyment of leading a healthy lifestyle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Professor Cobb-Clarke said the research demonstrated the need for more targeted policy responses.<\/p>\n “What works well for women may not work well for men,” she said.<\/p>\n “Gender specific policy initiatives which respond to these objectives may be particularly helpful in promoting healthy lifestyles.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n The study used data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the University of Melbourne press release via ScienceDaily: A ‘can do’ attitude is the key to a healthy lifestyle, University of Melbourne economists have determined. Researchers from the Melbourne… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,10],"tags":[363,32,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6541"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6712,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541\/revisions\/6712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Positive](\"http:\/\/www.therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/SmilingWoman2.jpg\")
A ‘can do’ attitude is the key to a healthy lifestyle<\/strong>, University of Melbourne economists have determined.<\/p>\n