Living Well Sefton is supporting Public Health England’s new Better Health campaign encouraging people to work towards a healthier lifestyle.

An England-wide survey of more than 5,000 adults found 80% of them have made an active decision to make changes to their lifestyle in 2021, with 68% saying they are motivated to make healthier lifestyle changes due to coronavirus.

Around 6 million adults aged 40 – 60 plan to eat more healthily (40%), lose weight (39%) and exercise more (41%). Public Health England explains that evidence shows being obese significantly increases your chance of being admitted to intensive care with COVID-19 compared to those with a healthy BMI.

Living Well Sefton and its partners can support people to reach their lifestyle goals, such as to eat more healthy meals, be more active, to stop smoking or improve their wellbeing.

People like Mandy who was referred by her GP to go on a Think Differently, Cope Differently course and says it changed her life for the better. Mandy explains: “The course has made me realise it’s good to focus on myself. My outlook has changed and knowing that I was going to talk with David, who co-ordinates the course, really brightened my day.

“I now take time for myself, even if it’s just for half an hour. I concentrate on me and no one else which can be difficult as I have a hectic life with four kids.”

Mandy’s confidence has increased too and she is now looking forward to going on healthy eating and healthy cooking courses at the Feelgood Factory.

There is lots of free support available – online or by telephone – from the Living Well Sefton partners on reaching your lifestyle goals, so you can also benefit like Mandy. Email the team on LWS@seftoncvs.org.uk or ring 0300 323 0181 to find out how they can help you.

Alternatively, try out the online lifestyle tool – Your Lifestyle Assistant – on this website’s homepage. It is free to use and has lots of useful ways of supporting you to make small changes in improving your lifestyle.

For details on the Better Health campaign, visit: https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/