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Varna Medical Forum

Awareness and Attitudes of the Population about Healthy Lifestyle

Magdalena Pesheva, Anna Todorova, Galina Petrova

Abstract

Introduction: A healthy lifestyle includes various aspects of daily life that support physical, mental, and emotional well-being. According to various analyses, an active health culture is the result of good personal awareness of health risk factors and the motivation of citizens. Sources of health information and health-seeking behavior can be doctors, pharmacists, patient associations, the Internet, etc. By means of the Internet, access to a variety of information is facilitated, which makes patients themselves more informed.

Aim: To study the attitudes and preferences of citizens regarding their choice of information sources on the topic of a healthy lifestyle.

Materials and Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted in an online environment among 85 respondents during the period of March to April 2024. Sociological and graphic methods, as well as descriptive statistics, were used, processed with Microsoft Excel, version 2016.

Results and Discussion: The survey found a desire among the respondents to improve their lifestyle. Of the indicated sources of information, the most frequently chosen is the Internet and social media, at the expense of consultations with pharmacists or other medical specialists.

Conclusion: People's awareness of the risks and benefits of a healthy lifestyle makes them more motivated to take active steps to improve their health. The introduction of Internet-related technologies in healthcare is changing the way individuals search for information, transforming their awareness from analog to digital sources.


Keywords

information, health, health literacy, healthy lifestyle

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14748/vmf.v13i1.9996

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