Bayer encourages all Australians to ‘Health Yourself’ this International Self-Care Day

Bayer Australia marked this year’s International Self-Care day by launching national research into the health knowledge and behaviours of the Australian public as part of their annual Health Yourself campaign, urging the nation to put the ‘self’ back into self-care. 

It is becoming increasingly important for people to take up the right self-care practices across all areas of health to maintain wellbeing and prevent illness. A third of Australia’s total burden of disease could be prevented by modifying risk factors such as physical inactivity and poor diet. 

“At Bayer, we recognise that eating well, exercising and accessing the right health resources and medicines are all key elements of self-care that can help maintain and improve quality of life. However, research has shown that unfortunately almost 60% of Australians don’t have the knowledge needed to make the right health choices.  We therefore are dedicated to addressing knowledge gaps and solving existing self-care challenges for Australians,” said Mark Sargent, General Manager, Consumer Health, Bayer Australia and New Zealand, at the event.

The research revealed the nation’s self-care sabotage confessions, showing that Australians lack the knowledge and motivation needed to take charge of their own health. The results showed that one of the groups who struggle with self-care the most are women at work, with a shocking 77% admitting that they have lost sleep or skipped exercise because of work. No wonder seven in 10 women admit that they put on weight because their lifestyle changed due to work!

The results also showed that exercise is amongst the top self-care practices that usually tend to be postponed or cancelled, with 49% of Australians not including working-out in their weekly routine. As a nation, Australians have mastered the art of making excuses to skip a workout. According to research, among the most common reasons used to skip a workout are being too tired (43%), too busy (16%) and just not liking exercise (14%).

The research further revealed that Australians aren’t making the most of their relationships with healthcare professionals and are reluctant to discuss their symptoms with them. A staggering 64% of Australians admit that they have cancelled a doctor’s appointment because they didn’t have time to go and more than half (55%) admit that they have been too nervous or scared to ask a doctor about a health concern during a consultation in the past. As a result, Australians often turn to unreliable sources, such as the internet with 80% checking their symptoms on Google instead of visiting a healthcare professional for advice.

As the Australian population is ageing, Bayer also asked senior Australians about their self-care confessions and found out that almost half of Australians aged 60+ (46%) regret not practising enough self-care in the past when they were younger. They also consider regular exercise as the most challenging to maintain as they get older. 

Bayer will continue to work with stakeholders across the self-care space to identify new collaborations for addressing self-care challenges in the future.

[1] Beyond Prevention Report, Bayer.

[1] AIHW. Australia’s Health 2018. Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2018/contents/indicators-of-australias-health/health-literacy. Accessed August 2019.