Healthly rise in wellbeing awareness

LOTHIANS residents are more knowledgable about their health than they were ten years ago, a study has found.

This is now extending itself to people's everyday lives, the report found, with more exercising regularly and following a better diet.

The Know, Feel, Do? report by NHS Health Scotland hailed the overall progress since the mid-to-late 1990s.

Dr Gerry McCartney, head of the organisation's public health observatory, said: "The results of this analysis show that more and more people recognise that smoking, poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle are bad for their health.

"We also found that over the last 12 years, increasing numbers of people are saying they either intend to or actually have adopted the healthier behaviours reported here.

"Although these results have to be interpreted with some caution because they are self-reported, there is some cause for optimism that the trends reported here will contribute to their health.

"Behaviour change is a slow process and so it is encouraging to see a definite improvement over time."