A person’s lifestyle includes all of the ways that he or she lives. It includes patterns of behaviour, consumption, entertainment and dress that reflect his or her attitudes, values and worldview. It also includes the physical activities he or she engages in and the food he or she eats. Often, a person’s lifestyle is influenced by his or her socioeconomic status.
Many different theories and perspectives exist on the concept of lifestyle. It has been studied from both a social and a psychological point of view. It has also been defined and analysed on both a synchronic and diachronic level. It has been defined as a characteristic of individuals (theory of Adler) and societies (the theory of Weber, Giddens and Bourdieu).
In the field of health, the term “lifestyle” has become synonymous with the way that a person lives. A healthy lifestyle includes eating right, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep and avoiding habits that can negatively impact your health, such as smoking, drinking alcohol in excess and excessively using recreational drugs.
Although it can be challenging to make healthy lifestyle changes, the benefits are well worth it. A healthy lifestyle can lower your risk of disease, improve your energy levels and help you feel better about yourself. It can also increase your lifespan and save you money.
Historically, lifestyle has been studied in the context of the economy, focusing on consumer and occupational choice, as well as the relationship between a person’s lifestyle and his or her socioeconomic position. In sociology, it has been studied as a characteristic of the individual and the social group, in particular the ideas of Georg Simmel and Pierre Bourdieu [2,3].
In psychology, the concept of lifestyle was introduced by Sigmund Freud to describe the personality characteristics that are established during childhood and form a basis for an individual’s life choices and reactions. More recently, the concepts of personal identity and behavioural patterns have been used to describe lifestyles.
In the early 1990s, a number of researchers began to consider the concept of lifestyle as the totality of the individual’s behaviour and his or her attitude to it. This perspective, called the dynamic model of lifestyle, defines lifestyle as a continuous process of constructing and reorganising an individual’s lifestyle, with the objective of achieving a sense of control over daily activities and a feeling of fulfilment. This approach emphasises the need to analyse both the internal and external aspects of a person’s life, including the psychosocial dimensions of his or her identity and the dynamism of the lifestyle as a whole. This approach is particularly useful in understanding how lifestyles evolve and are influenced by changing social and environmental conditions. In this sense, the dynamic model of lifestyle represents a significant departure from the traditional approach to studying lifestyles. It is, therefore, important to consider the dynamic model of lifestyles in research into the area of health promotion. This will enable us to develop a more integrated and comprehensive approach to this complex subject.