New research just published shows Irish people are less healthy than they think.
According to the Irish Life Health of Our Nation report there has been a noticeable decline in overall physical and mental health in Ireland - despite people thinking their health is improving.
Among the findings of the report is that over the last 5 years Irish people are exercising less and are putting on weight, 28 per cent of respondents felt stressed and anxious most of the time and the number of people feeling lonely or isolated has nearly doubled since 2019.
Professor of Clinical Exercise Physiology and Monaghan man, Niall Moyna, told the Joe Finnegan Show earlier that he saw a "disconnect between people's perception of their health and the reality". This, he believes is in part, down to a "lack of health literacy".
Professor Moyna said about 20% of the population are those whom he referred to as the 'worried well' - the people who monitor their health and are pro-active in their approach to fitness.
A second grouping, which, makes up about 40% of the nation are those who fall out and come back to health and fitness and a third group of individuals are those who never engage in fitness.
"Those are the people the country will spend most of the healthcare budget on," Niall Moyna told the Joe Finnegan Show earlier today, "but they'll get more bang for their buck if they start doing any sort of health intervention with diet, exercise - they'll get tremendous health benefits in 4 weeks."
