AXA Health Encouraging Brits To Lead Healthier Lifestyles

AXA Health has announced a new campaign designed to encourage more Brits to lead healthier lifestyles, as well as research on what being ‘healthy’ really means to Brits. To launch the campaign and help boost awareness, AXA Health has teamed up with comedian Jack Whitehall.

What AXA’s research shows

According to AXA’s accompanying research, over half of Brits believe that leading a healthy lifestyle does not need to involve suffering through strenuous or rigorous exercise regimes. Furthermore, two-thirds say the associated enjoyment of an activity is more important than reaching a specific goal. 

To that end, AXA Health is encouraging Brits to get their endorphins pumping without it feeling like a chore. Suitable activities could range from briskly walking the dog, to dancing while waiting for the microwave to ping.

AXA says that enjoying activities and feeling good about getting healthy is important. That’s because if you find an activity you actually enjoy doing, there’s a good chance you’ll not only do it again, but keep it up.

Such an approach is one that the majority of Brits agree with. Indeed, AXA’s research shows 83% of Brits say they would find getting healthy and committing to it in the long term easier if doing so involved something they enjoyed. Moreover, while more than one in six believe a ‘no pain, no gain’ approach has its merits, over a third (39%) say doing what they love is vital for their health and wellbeing.

AXA’s ‘Feelgood Health’ campaign

AXA’s ‘Feelgood Health’ campaign is all about encouraging people to undertake activities that are good for their head, their heart and their body, on their own terms.

To launch the campaign and help boost awareness, AXA Health has partnered with award-winning actor, presenter, comedian and author, Jack Whitehall — someone who is known for bringing the ‘feel good’ factor wherever he goes.

As someone whose idea of keeping healthy is not 5am pre-breakfast runs and being hollered at by a personal trainer, Jack was put through a series of challenges by AXA Health Chief Medical Officer, Dr Annabel Bentley. The challenges included borrowing a dog, easy household activities and Forest bathing.

Speaking about the campaign. Jack said: “We did some fun, feel-good challenges, the sort of healthy things that anyone can do, things that focus on physical and mental wellbeing. Probably quite helpful as well given all the burgers I ate in lockdown. My kind of health – take a look and give them a try.”

In Summary

It was great to see AXA’s ‘Feelgood Health’ campaign receiving some celebrity endorsement this week from Jack Whitehall. I think Jack’s view that being healthy means different things to different people is ‘spot on’ and appealing to the masses, rather than just the few, is an excellent strategy by AXA Health.

It doesn’t have to be all about 5am boot camps; something like regular walking could