Mental illness and unhealthy lifestyles

The Scottish Association for Mental Health has conducted a survey of 320 people looking into the links between mental illness and unhealthy lifestyles. People with mental-health problems were more likely to feel embarrassed (9% vs 1%) and that they were being judged (11% vs 2%) when taking exercise or going to the gym than people without mental-health problems. People with mental-health problems were four times more likely to have diabetes and men with mental-health problems were twice as likely as other men to drink more than the recommended 21 units of alcohol a week. People with mental-health problems were also more likely to be unable to afford to buy fruit and vegetables and more likely to smoke.

You can find out more about this survey at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8298080.stm