Introduction

Are factors influencing our health and wellbeing biological, or can they be more or less exclusively attributed to individual differences in terms of lifestyle? For instance, in high-income countries, many ‘lifestyles’ are physically inactive, and this can have a negative impact on a person’s health. In this free course, Exploring health: is your lifestyle really to blame? you will be encouraged to consider the impact of social, cultural, political and economic factors that influence obesity in adulthood. You will also investigate whether a focus on lifestyles and a person’s behaviors are sufficient to explain contemporary health and wellbeing concerns.

Course learning outcomes

• Outline to what extent a person's 'lifestyle' impacts on their health and wellbeing
• Describe how psychosocial (i.e. social, economic, cultural and political) factors influence a person's health
• Identify what government interventions have been developed to tackle obesity.