Taking responsibility for your health

I was asked an interesting question this week by a 12-year-old boy at a school where I was doing a talk on SRE. He queried whether I thought it was right that a government should get involved in people’s choices, particularly in terms of their physical relationships. We had an in-depth discussion about informed choice and safety, and I started thinking about how much policy-writers have an influence on our health-related behaviour.

So often, I hear people complain about how the ‘nanny state’ is at work, telling people what to do and what not to do (don’t eat too much salt, exercise more, or drink less alcohol). And my response is always the same: we often ignore the things we don’t want to hear or think about, yet if we aren’t ever informed about how to be healthier, we might have even more to grumble about… It’s a fine line to strike and sometimes doesn’t work for everyone. And while it remains our responsibility to take care of ourselves, sometimes it’s useful to be reminded of why, how and what we can do to make the best of things.  

(This infographic from The Health Foundation shows how our health is linked to many different factors.)
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