What is health culture?

Health culture is one of today's biggest online trends.

What is health culture?

Health culture refers to the trends that encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle. The health culture of today has grown exponentially because of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the like. Health culture is basically a collection of current health trends.

What is the difference between health culture and a culture of health?

Health culture refers to the current health trends of the day. A culture of health is any one of many cultures (generational, geographic, national, ethnically or demographic) that encourage a healthy lifestyle.

A culture of health

Certain groups of people are healthier than others. A culture of health is a group of people that follow a healthy lifestyle. The chad culture, for example, is a culture of health because the majority of their food is fresh without preservatives, additives, saturated fats and added salt.

Most sports groups have a strong culture of health. The culture of health in bodybuilding, for example, is one of the reasons why bodybuilding can increase mental performance. Greece and Japan are countries with a strong culture of health.

Health culture

Health culture, on the other hand, looks at the trends that cross cultural or demographic borders. Health culture used to dictate that fat-free food is healthier, for example. Currently, health culture says that a sugar free diet is the healthiest.

Health culture changes as new research, ideas and theologies take center stage.

Key differences between a culture of health and health culture

1. 'A culture of health' refers to any culture that is healthy. A 'health culture' is the ever-growing meditation movement.
2. It is similar to the difference between a media outlet and the media. Many individual parts of one form the other. A culture of health would be the singular (what one group of people are doing), where a health culture would be the plural (what most people are doing).
3. A culture of health is a culture that is healthy. A health culture is a health trend.

Social media is powerful.

The history of health culture - How did health culture come get so big?

Universities, professionals and large companies shaped health culture before the internet

Before the explosion of the internet, people got health advice from doctors, dietitians and other qualified professionals on a face-to-face basis. Professionals learned their information from school, which was closely aligned to a singular, uniform idea of about health.

Large companies were able to influence health culture through advertising. They could pay universities large amounts of money to study and confirm the health benefits of their products. Advertising was people's secondary (and primary exposure in many cases) exposure to the idea of what a healthy lifestyle looks like.

As an example, adverts promoted low-fat products. This led people to believe that low fat was what we should aim for. Another great example of this is the fact that the line 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day' was created in the nineteenth century by James Jackson and John Kellogg (used to promote their breakfast cereal). This single line is still a very big trend in today's health culture.

Do research to determine what is true.

The internet allows anybody to influence health culture

The internet gave anybody the opportunity to reach a seemingly unlimited number of people. This was especially true in the earlier days when everybody was just starting out and there were no large influences in the market yet.

Anybody could give health advice and their online following seemed to determine whether their advice was worth listening to. Online health and fitness became (and still is) a very profitable business - if you can get enough attention. This led more and more people to vouch for the position of 'health influencer'.

An ever-increasing number of people could now determine what was deemed healthy - regardless of whether the claims were true or not. Many people trust what they read online over and above what they hear from their doctors.

Don't be misled.

The split within health culture

The massive growth of health influences who gave health advice independently (not needing to concur with one another before information is released) led to differences of opinion. Studies are now more easily accessible and almost anybody could quote them in a way that supported their argument.

People are always looking for new ways to solve old problems. New ideas rose to popularity as older methods declined in favor. Any new ideas that gained a large following found more writers who wanted to become an expert on the subject to carve out their own following.

This is what created the large variety of health concepts that dominate our screens on social media today. Any trend that has a large enough following has become what is now called 'health culture'.

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So who is right?

Which of these influences are right? What trends are actually good for you?

The best thing to do is to read the studies from reputable universities yourself. You can use the results of those studies to determine whether the health claim holds any truth.

Most people quote studies that prove their point (or at least they should) throughout their content. Very few people click through to the studies to see whether the results support the writer's claims.

If you want to know whether somebody's online health advice is backed by science, read the studies they quote and determine whether the results are the same as reported.

Do your own research!

The role of health culture

If you've read this far, you might be thinking that health culture has done more damage than good. I'd argue that the opposite is true. 

While opposing opinions might confuse many people, the online debate is quite similar to what happens in University lecture halls and science labs. The biggest difference (besides the fact that there are now thousands of people in the debate) is that all of this back-and-forth is made public for all to see.

Is a plant-based or meat-based diet the healthiest option? Science will take years before we have a solid answer. Thanks to health culture, we have thousands of people who are already trying out these trends and giving us constant feedback about what works for them and what doesn't.

Health culture is a good thing.

A massive growth in anecdotal evidence

Anecdotal evidence is evidence to support a claim based on personal experience.

Anecdotal evidence almost always precedes scientific evidence. What does that mean? It simply means that the majority of research tests are done to confirm what many people already believe through experience. The cure to cancer might be sitting in your kitchen. We'll never know until someone picks it up and gives it a go.

The online community has helped the science community just as much as the other way around. Anecdotal evidence, testimonials and trends give scientists a pretty good idea of what could work and what wouldn't. They can now spend more time testing theories instead of having to come up with theories of their own.

In fact, there are currently more things that need to be researched than what we the capacity to research.

Have you ever wondered why almost every study says 'more research is needed' at the end of their test results? That's because much more research is needed - there just isn't enough resources to study everything at once.

Both forms of evidence are important.

Why does science take so long to give us solid answers?

We've discussed the fact that there is so much more research that needs to be done. An 'I tried it for 30 days' testimonial on YouTube seems to be more conclusive than a study that took years to complete. Why does clinical research take so long?

There are too many variables that need to be accounted for. 

Let's use a study about sleep deprivation, for example. Someone might film themselves going without sleep for 24 hours to document the results. This gives us anecdotal evidence. Clinical studies need more information to come to conclusive results.

From a clinical point of view, small things like caffeine intake need to be taken into consideration. If you give the person more caffeine than what they'd have in a typical day, additional caffeine can skew the results. On the other hand, spending time awake without normal caffeine intake might produce symptoms that are mistakenly documented as sleep deprivation.

Other factors include lighting (because light effects how sleepy we feel) and whether a physically or mentally draining task was done.

If a symptom is observed, we need to be sure that it is a symptom and not the result of something else.

Consider all factors.

It takes a lifetime to determine long-term results

One of the other factors that prolong the process of research is the fact that good research takes a long time to be conclusive.

Did the test subject really showcase symptoms of mania after going without sleep, or did they just have a bad day? What were the effects for the following week after sleep deprivation?

To get all of the information that we need about how a certain health trend affects somebody's health, we would need to study their eating plans and its effects on their health for an entire lifetime.

The long period of time between birth and death can prolong a study by many, many years. This is one of the reasons why vaping studies have taken so long to be released. It will take many years before we can finally understand the long-term effects.

A health influencer, on the other hand, can release anecdotal evidence about how they felt after switching to vaping within 30 days.

Other factors that prolong clinical research

1. Red tape, paperwork and funding are other factors that stagger research productivity. Human rights issues and health regulations interfere with a lot of scientific research (Marijuana research has been severely impacted by health regulations). Compulsory safety regulations can also prevent necessary or accurate research from taking place.
2. Studies need to be confirmed by other studies. One study might prove a significant breakthrough, but this might not prove anything if the results can't be replicated by other studies.

These are some of the ways that other health influences have been able to provide information about health before they can be proved or disproved by actual research.

It is costly and time consuming.

The benefits of health culture

Besides being able to provide health information at a much faster rate to a larger group of people, current health culture plays a few other important roles.

1. Motivate people to improve their health

Health culture plays a big role in motivating people to live a healthier lifestyle. Information about exercise, weight loss and nutrition is now available to anybody with an internet connection. 

People are more likely to learn about the benefits of exercise on their social feeds on a daily basis. This is much more frequent than the advice that they would hear from their doctor. 

Before and after pictures, big promises and results testimonials inspire people to change. Of the people we surveyed, 4 out of 100 people started their health and fitness journey because of what they saw online.

2. Health culture helps many people

A large amount of people have found practical ways to deal with existing issues through today's health culture. It is now easier than ever to find what has worked for others and find the best health strategy for yourself.

3. Access to forums, reviews, question-and-answer sites, blogs and testimonials

What works and what does not work? You can find what other people have tried and see the results in an almost endless supply of anecdotal evidence. If you still haven't found a suitable answer, you can ask people for your very own, personalized answer on forums and group chats.

4. Actual research is usually just a few extra clicks away

Reputable health writers will provide scientific evidence to any health claims that they make. It is the responsibility of the reader to click though to those research papers and come to their own conclusions.

Research papers are often hard to read or understand for most people. Researches usually write for other researchers. Writers have the important job of breaking the results and information down into an easily-readable format that everybody can understand.

Health culture helps many people.

Conclusion

Health culture will continue to grow and transform as it sweeps across the general public. Everybody should check the facts provided by health writers by reading the scientific sources that they quote. There is more than enough anecdotal evidence. We just need more time for clinical research to catch up.

Check your facts by doing more research before following a current health trend. Some of them can mislead you, while others can change your life for the better. Stay Strong!

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