ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the health lifestyles that people pursue on their own, more or less independently of the medical profession and reviews the health behavior of people that places them in direct contact with physicians and other health personnel for preventive care intended to maintain their health and reduce the future risk of illness. Health lifestyles are collective patterns of health-related behavior based on choices from options available to people according to their life chances. In contemporary society, health has become an achievement—something people are supposed to work toward having by personally making an effort to maintain or improve it. Health behavior is the activity undertaken by individuals for the purpose of maintaining or enhancing their health, preventing health problems, or achieving a positive body image. Health lifestyles include contact with physicians and other health personnel, but the majority of activities take place outside of formal health care delivery systems.
