The French have a bad image of their health and their way of life, according to the OpinionWay barometer of the Mutuelle générale de l’Education nationale 2019.
Internet addicts, bad food lovers and insomniacs. Here is the portrait – very critical – that the French draw up vis-à-vis themselves. According to the barometer OpinionWay of the Mutuelle générale de l’Education nationale (MGEN) 2019, in partnership with the Solidaris Institute, the overall index of French people regarding their health and well-being is 57.5 out of 100. This is a bit lower than last year (59.3%). The result of this survey takes into account many criteria, such as physical health, mental health and self-image.
A bad lifestyle
To conduct this study, 1,001 people were interviewed by telephone and online in September 2019. The survey reveals that respondents are critical of their lifestyle: 23% of them say they smoke too many cigarettes, 31 .2% say they are addicted to the Internet and 12.7% say they consume too much alcohol. In addition, it appears that the French must make efforts to improve their lifestyle. Indeed, only 37.8% of French people believe that they do enough sport or physical exercise, 45.5% suffer from insomnia and 34.6% consider that they do not eat enough fruit and vegetables.
The French are stressed
On the psychological level, it’s not in great shape either: 19.7% of respondents say they feel “severe to moderate” depression, 19.9% say they are “often” and “very often” anxious. According to the results, the work has something to do with it. Indeed, 40.5% of French people say they are under great stress in the professional sphere or in the context of studies. In addition, 54.3% of respondents believe they do “really useful” work for society. However, last year, they were 72.8%! The French seem not to take pleasure in studies or work: 43.3% of them consider that it gives them a “real source of well-being”, against 49.5% last year. In addition, one of the main factors of anxiety is the environment, where 76.4% of respondents say they are “very worried” about its deterioration.
The French health system is well regarded
However, the picture is not all bleak. The results of the survey are generally positive regarding access to care; 61.1% of respondents judge the French health system to be of “excellent quality”, 58.9% believe that there are enough hospital structures in their region, 45.2% enough health professionals. Flat, 55.4% of French people think that the waiting time is too long to be admitted to hospital. At last, the lack of money and the shortage of medicine seem to taint the opinion of respondents on their overall health, 18.6% of them have already given up going to a general practitioner for financial reasons and 23.4% had to give up treatments because of their unavailability in pharmacies.
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