Survey Found 71% of Americans are Satisfied with Their Health Status

A survey on health-related behaviors and attitudes of Americans found that 71% of them say their overall health and wellness is good (54%) or excellent (17%). The online health poll was conducted by The Harris Poll by the American Osteopathic Association.

Questions were asked related to work, exercise habits and sleep as well as the views regarding politics, access to healthcare facilities and the environment. The findings of this survey suggest that Americans are doing great within a challenging environment.

An osteopathic physician, Rick Pescatore said that the best news of this survey is that the majority of individuals are doing the right things as getting good sleep, not exhausting at work, exercising twice than the recommended amount. He said that while thinking about whole-person health, they also consider different factors that are not under control and looking at things that need improvement.

The overall result was positive but socioeconomic imbalance appeared. 71% of Americans rated overall health and wellness as good or excellent, that was true for 81% of people with $100k household income and 60% of those having household income less than $50k.

When people were asked about the areas needing improvement, the top choices of Americans were financial stability (41%) and physical health (42%).

 Mental health came in third (29%) among Americans; however, its need for improvement was higher among younger age groups: 18-34 (44%), 35-44 (37%), 45-54 (29%), 55-64 (20%), and 65 and older (10%).

 Mental health was the third (29%) but the requirement of its improvement was higher in younger people. Dr.  Pescatore said that mental health is important and has become mainstream over the past decades and it’s a priority for the younger generations. This poll shows that younger people are more severely affected by issues like financial instability and political disparities.

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When people were asked about better health services (geographically close and affordable), about 39% of Americans choose dental care and 39% of them choose primary care.

About 24% of Americans want to have better access to emergency care. 21% choose psychiatry/psychology and 19% choose special care which includes cardiology, oncology, and gastroenterology.

Dr. Pescatore said that this was the most concerning findings of the survey that some of them want better access to the critical part of health care is alarming.

When asked about the most concerning issue, 51% of them chose the affordability of healthcare as it was their primary concern. Political animosity was the second as chosen by 38% of Americans. Environmental health was the third among them.

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Americans report 6.6 hours of sleep, employed people working for 35 hours every week and exercise for 6.9 hours weekly.

The top physical activity was walking as reported by 71 people who exercise, followed by running, weight lifting/ strength training, yoga, sports, cycling, sports, swimming, Pilates, high-intensity interval training and others.

This survey which is conducted online is not probability sample based so, therefore, no chances of error due to theoretical sampling can be calculated.