In the field of health promotion, there is increasing interest in promoting healthy lifestyles. To this end, it is important to understand the concept of lifestyle and how it is understood within various disciplines. This article presents an overview of the main theories and definitions that characterise this concept. This multidisciplinary analysis, which is mainly based on sociological and psychological perspectives, aims to contribute to a critical reworking of the lifestyle concept in order to establish more effective theoretical and explanatory models that could serve as the basis for health promotion interventions.
Lifestyle is a broad term that encompasses many areas of an individual’s life, such as health, personal development, relationships, work, and leisure. However, many people struggle to figure out what their lifestyle is or how they want it to be. The challenge is to figure out how to take control and design their own lifestyle that brings them happiness, fulfillment, and a sense of purpose.
The most popular conceptualisations of the term are related to internal dimensions, which relate to personality and the way an individual organises their lives. These currents of thought, which are mainly psychological in origin, refer to a lifestyle as an organisation of the personality and a way of living that is justified by values, attitudes, and orientations. This is reminiscent of the meaning of the term style, which recalls an artistic field in order to emphasise an individual imprint and uniqueness.
Other currents of thinking on the subject, which are mainly sociological in origin, refer to lifestyle as a manifestation of an individual’s social position and its expression in behaviour, activities, and daily practices. These concepts are based on the models of Weber and Bourdieu, and can be distinguished by their focus on social positioning and the appropriation of lifestyles by members of specific classes. These currents of thinking also stress the concept of temporal aspects, namely that lifestyles can change or evolve depending on the context in which they are lived.
Finally, some authors, such as Giddens, have suggested an approach to the study of lifestyle that emphasises its active dimension. This involves studying lifestyles in terms of their transformation over time, with the aim of identifying patterns and trends in the way that an individual lives his or her life. This perspective contrasts with the traditional view that studies lifestyles merely by analysing their content, as has been the case up to now in the field of health psychology. This approach will allow the study of how lifestyles are formed and how they can be changed.
