Doctors Tendency to Preach What They Practice: A Healthy Lifestyle

Physicians adopting healthy habits are likelier than doctors devoid of such habits to suggest five vital lifestyle modifications to patients, including eating healthy, restricting sodium, preserving a healthy weight, restraining alcohol and stay more physically active.

In a survey of 1,000 physicians about their lifestyles and whether they recommend national guideline lifestyle modifications to patients with high blood pressure, researchers found:

• Four percent smoked at least once a week.
• Almost 39 percent ate the recommended five or more cups of fruits and vegetables a week.
• About 27 percent exercised five or more days a week.
• About 66 percent made all five lifestyle recommendations to patients.
• Doctors who exercised at least once a week or didn't smoke were about twice as likely to recommend the five interventions.