A healthy lifestyle is an approach to life that supports personal and environmental health. By eating a well-balanced diet, increasing physical activity and avoiding unhealthy habits like smoking, people can improve their health. These positive changes can help prevent diseases like heart disease, stroke and cancer, which account for about a third of all deaths in high-income countries. Healthy lifestyles can also help reduce pollution by supporting sustainable agriculture practices and using less energy in transportation.
Many different theories and concepts are associated with the term ‘lifestyle’, making it difficult to develop an accurate and clear definition. Various psychological and sociological currents have used this concept to describe different aspects of an individual’s behaviour, but they often lack an in-depth understanding of the processes that give rise to lifestyles. In this article, we will look at the main definitions and models of lifestyle in both psychological and sociological literature. In particular, we will analyse them in terms of internal, external and temporal dimensions.
From a sociological perspective, lifestyle can be understood as a specific way of socialising and the dynamic forces that shape cultural and collective identities. Thorstein Veblen argues that individuals adopt specific patterns of conspicuous consumption in order to distinguish themselves from social strata they identify as inferior, or because they want to emulate the lifestyles of those who have acquired a status that is perceived as more prestigious. Max Weber also identifies a link between the position of a social class and its style of life, whereby lifestyles reflect the values of a group and its status.
More recently, psychologists have developed a more precise approach to lifestyles. Theorists such as Robert Kegan have described lifestyles as ‘practices’ that are influenced by individual characteristics and antecedent factors, such as personality and values. A central concept of these practices is their capacity to engender a sense of meaning and belonging in the individual, as well as giving them control over their day-to-day activities.
Nevertheless, despite its usefulness, this model has several limitations. For one, it only considers the behavioural component of lifestyle, neglecting the more important psycho-social dimensions and life span issues. A more comprehensive model is needed to explain how lifestyles are constructed and evolve, which can be a basis for better interventions in the field of health promotion. In this respect, critical health psychology can play an important role, considering a vision of a healthy lifestyle as a series of meaningful and contextually situated health practice models. This is a first step towards an integrated vision of health that takes into account the dynamic interactions between the individual and their environment. Achieving this will require a multidisciplinary approach integrating psychological and sociological perspectives. This will enable us to develop more effective theoretical and explanatory models of healthy lifestyles. These can then serve as the basis for effective and efficient health promotion interventions. This will promote more healthy populations and a more sustainable planet.
