Healthy lifestyle

Health Domain

Healthy lifestyle

Our lifestyles have a big impact on our wellbeing and preventive health has a big role to play in improving health outcomes.

Healthy weight

This measure shows the proportion of Canberrans with a healthy body mass index (BMI).

Maintaining a healthy BMI is important because it can help prevent and manage many chronic diseases and conditions.

In 2024, young people aged 18-24 were significantly more likely to have a healthy BMI than other age groups. There were only minor differences between men and women in 2024.

Between 2018 and 2024, the proportion of Canberrans with a healthy BMI has declined.

The ACT General Health Survey data is published on HealthStats ACT.

Line graph of percentage of Canberrans reporting a healthy weight, between 2018 and 2024. In 2024, 34.5% of Canberrans reported a healthy weight compared to 36.3% in 2023.

This measure was not collected in 2019 or 2022.

BMI is based on self-reported height and weight. Adult BMI values are grouped as follows:

  • Underweight: BMI less than 18.5
  • Healthy weight: BMI 18.5 - 24.99
  • Overweight: BMI 25.00 - 29.99
  • Obese class 1: BMI 30.00 - 34.99
  • Obese class 2: BMI 35.00 - 39.99
  • Obese class 3: BMI 40 or more.

Source: https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4363.0Glossary12017-18?OpenDocument.

Outliers for adults were not excluded from analysis because the impact of these on the categorical estimates would be negligible.

If a record was missing a value for height or weight, they were excluded from analysis.

CALD status has been classified as respondents who reported that they were born in a country other than Australia or that they usually speak a language other than English at home.

LGBTIQA+ status has been classified as respondents who reported that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or something else. This question was introduced in the ACT General Health Survey (ACTGHS) in 2019.

Disability status has been classified as respondents who reported that they have a disability, health condition or injury that has lasted, or is likely to last, 6 months or more which restricts their everyday activities. This question was introduced in 2019.

Health and Community Services Directorate has been conducting the ACTGHS since 2007. The ACTGHS is implemented using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI).

Statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who participate in the survey and the characteristics of the ACT adult population. Non-overlapping 95% confidence intervals rounded to one decimal place have been used as a measure of the statistical significance of the difference between two estimates. The impact of this conservative method means that estimates that were marginally significantly different may have been classified as not statistically significant.

Getting enough sleep

This measure shows the proportion of adults who self-report sleeping the recommended number of hours.

Sleep Health Foundation recommends 7-9 hours for 18-64 year olds and 7-8 hours for 65 years and over.

The quality of a person’s sleep impacts:

In 2024, 63.2% of Canberrans slept the recommended number of hours. Men are sleeping slightly better than women (65.2% and 61.4% respectively). In 2024, those aged 65+ were the least likely age group to sleep the recommended number of hours per night.

Between 2018 and 2024, the proportion of Canberrans who slept the recommended number of hours per night has decreased slightly, however this decrease was not significant.

The ACT General Health Survey data is published on HealthStats ACT.

Line graph of percentage of Canberrans who self-report sleeping the recommended number of hours per night, by year from 2018 to 2024. In 2024, 63.2% of Canberrans reported sleeping the recommended number of hours compared to 59.8% in 2023.

For more information about the sleep recommendations for adults, visit: https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/how-much-sleep-do-you-really-need.html.

This measure was introduced in 2019.

CALD status has been classified as respondents who reported that they were born in a country other than Australia or that they usually speak a language other than English at home.

LGBTIQA+ status has been classified as respondents who reported that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or something else. This question was introduced in the ACT General Health Survey (ACTGHS) in 2019.

Disability status has been classified as respondents who reported that they have a disability, health condition or injury that has lasted, or is likely to last, 6 months or more which restricts their everyday activities. This question was introduced in 2019.

Health and Community Services Directorate has been conducting the ACTGHS since 2007. The ACTGHS is implemented using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI).

Statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who participate in the survey and the characteristics of the ACT adult population. Non-overlapping 95.0% confidence intervals rounded to one decimal place have been used as a measure of the statistical significance of the difference between two estimates. The impact of this conservative method means that estimates that were marginally significantly different may have been classified as not statistically significant.