Lifestyle, In the News
Research carried out by Benenden Health found that men have completely given up on their physical appearance by the age of 46, that’s 13 years sooner than women do.
According to the study of 2000 men and women, one in four of the people said that staying healthy and looking good cost too much money and was too big a commitment. Two in three said it was normal to stop worrying about your looks once you had a long term partner, and more than half said they focused less on their appearance once they had married. In fact only 26 months after the average couple had married did they stop bothering about their looks.
It’s thought that men are happy to cut out trips to the gym, and four in ten said that the only exercise they got was walking up the stairs. Seven out of ten men don’t worry about the way they look, while more than half said they don’t really take any pride in their appearance. This probably explains why one in three said that eat and drink what they like, and don’t consider the health implications.
Women on the other hand continue to focus hard on their appearance and general fitness until at least age 59 before they relax their standards. Women were also twice as likely to lack confidence in their image with more than a third unable to claim they were at least content with their appearance.
Paul Keenan, Head of Communications at Benenden Health said: “We regularly read in the news about how we are all living longer – thanks to improvements in medical science. But how many of us are taking proactive steps to ensure our basic health and wellbeing remains in shape as we grow older?
“Are we actually using healthcare services as a crutch to boost our longevity?
“Our survey suggests that maintaining our physical wellbeing into our later years simply becomes a lesser priority – influenced by wanting to relax in comfort and not have to keep up with trends. And men appear to ‘give up’ far sooner than women”.
A third of all people studied blame the lack of happiness in contributing to their low confidence levels in the way they look. More than half of those surveyed said they aren’t in great shape physically whilst a third has never been the type to bother with doing exercise. Another third stop worrying about the food they eat and how much alcohol they drink.
Paul Keenan added: “We know that many people do look after their health, wellbeing and physical appearance – but it’s shocking to see that a third have never been the type to bother with doing exercise and more than half think they are not in great shape physically.
“And what is the excuse? One in four people think that staying healthy costs too much money and is too big a commitment. But is this is really true when walking is free but cars cost money to run, or when water is cheap and alcohol prices are rising.
“We can’t rely on healthcare services to provide support constantly without also taking responsibility for creating the best possible environment ourselves for good physical health.”
What depressing reading this survey makes, we really do need to be laying the foundations now so we positively age in the future. It really doesn’t have to cost a huge amount of money to keep fit, walking is a fantastic way of exercising that most people can do, and it costs nothing.
