Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, lung disease, and diabetes are major causes of illness and death worldwide. Lifestyle behaviours, including smoking, alcohol use, diet, physical activity, sleep, stress, and social connections, can influence our health. In daily life, however, these behaviours do not occur separately. Most people have a mixture of healthier and less healthy habits. This thesis by Qian Zou studied how lifestyle behaviours occur together in the Northern Dutch population and how these lifestyle patterns relate to health.
Zhou identified five distinct patterns, ranging from generally healthier to generally less healthy combinations. Overall, people with healthier patterns, typically including not smoking, a healthier diet, more physical activity, and less sedentary behaviour, tended to have a lower risk of developing major chronic diseases. They also tended to report a better quality of life when living with type 2 diabetes or obesity. Among older adults with multiple diseases, healthier patterns were also associated with a lower risk of death. Importantly, some lifestyle patterns that combine both healthier and less healthy behaviours are still associated with better health outcomes than the unhealthiest pattern. Lifestyle patterns were also shared within families, particularly between partners.
These findings suggest that health is influenced by the combination of our habits. In everyday life, lifestyle change may therefore be better understood by considering behaviours together rather than focusing on each behaviour in isolation.
Find the full thesis here: Lifestyle Patterns and Chronic Diseases: Insights for Prevention and Intervention
