Most people don’t trust healthy lifestyle from overweight medical staff

New study suggests anonymous cyber-nurses are more trustworthy than real overweight ones

According to the results of the study, most people have difficulties taking into account healthy living advice if the medical personnel they are asking guidance from is a fat person. The lack of credibility has been underlined when they chose the recommendations of an online anonymous nurse rather than an overweight one.

The study was conducted by the University of Chichester’s researchers, who surveyed 98 people aged 18 to 85. Most people chose to ask for advice from a virtual nurse “with ten years’ experience”, when asked to choose between her or an obese one.

Moreover, according to the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany, a healthy lifestyle can increase life expectancy by up to seven years, the credibility study is considered important in order for the patients to be able to maintain a healthy weight, quit smoking and alcohol and learn how to better manage stress, as all these behaviors can have a harmful cumulative effect.

“Improvements in medical technology are often thought to be the gatekeeper to healthier, longer life. We showed that a healthy lifestyle, which costs nothing, is enough to enable individuals to enjoy a very long and healthy life,” commented Mikko Myrskylä, Director of the Institute in Rostock, concluded.