In the context of health promotion, lifestyle refers to a set of choices and patterns of behaviour that determine how people spend their time, energy and money. It also influences how they eat and move around, whether they smoke or drink alcohol, and how much rest they get. Lifestyle is a complex concept and there are many different ways to describe it. Some examples include “a way of life,” “habits,” “behaviours” or “ways of living”.
In terms of health, a healthy lifestyle includes regular physical activity, a balanced diet and not smoking. It is important to choose a healthy diet that is low in salt, sugar and fat and has plenty of fruits and vegetables. It is also helpful to avoid excessive amounts of alcohol or other drugs. Finally, it is important to be able to manage stress and anxiety well.
Lifestyles are social constructs that distinguish members of the same social group and that are shaped by external factors such as culture, values and history as well as internal ones such as personality, interests and beliefs. They are characterised by the degree to which they are open or closed and their level of coherence.
A variety of different lifestyle theories have been developed in recent years. Theories that focus on the individual emphasise an internal dimension and consider a person’s personality as a key element in their choice of lifestyle. They define lifestyle as a style of life that reflects a person’s personality, preferences and interests [1, 2].
Other approaches, which are linked to sociological or psychological perspectives, take into account both the individual and the collective dimensions. They consider that people’s lifestyle is a reflection of their attitudes, values and norms and that it is related to the environment they live in [3]. These theories recognise that the individual is not free to follow any particular lifestyle and that people have multiple choices.
Regardless of which of these perspectives is adopted, the main limit to the various lifestyle theories is that they do not address the question of how and why lifestyles form and change and that they do not explain the links between them.
In fact, a new approach to the issue of lifestyle is emerging that focuses on practices and the antecedent factors that influence them. This is a promising approach because it allows the creation of a research model that can serve as a reference for developing lifestyle interventions. This model is based on an understanding of lifestyle as a system of meanings and attitudes that defines and regulates health practice models [4]. It could allow us to move away from the current tendency to focus on the presence or absence of risk behaviours and towards a more holistic approach that takes into consideration the whole context of an individual’s life. This is a necessary step to improve our knowledge of the relationships between lifestyles and health behaviours.
