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

In 2021, young people aged 18-24 were more likely to have a healthy weight than other age groups. There was no difference between men and women in 2021.

Over time, the proportion of Canberrans with a healthy weight has remained stable.

ACT General Health Survey.

Line graph of percentage of Canberrans reporting a healthy weight, between 2018 and 2021. In 2021, 36.1% of Canberrans report a healthy weight compared to 38.7% in 2020.

Body mass index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obesity. BMI is based on self-reported height and weight. To calculate BMI, weight in kilograms is divided by the square of the height in metres.

The healthy weight of adults is a BMI score of 18.5 to 24.99.

This indicator shows self-reported data collected through computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Estimates were weighted to adjust for differences in the probability of selection among respondents and were benchmarked to the estimated residential population using the latest available Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates.

Data for BMI are not collected every third year (i.e. 2019 and 2022).

Persons include respondents who identified as male, female, other and those who refused to answer.

Statistically significant differences are difficult to detect for smaller jurisdictions such as the Australian Capital Territory. Sometimes, even large apparent differences may not be statistically significant. This is particularly the case in breakdowns of small populations because the small sample size means that there is not enough power to identify even large differences as statistically significant.

Getting enough sleep

This measure shows the proportion of adults who self-report sleeping the recommended number of hours. The quality of a person’s sleep impacts:

In 2022, 60.4% of Canberrans slept the recommended number of hours. There was no difference between men and women. In 2022, those aged 18-24 and 65+ were the least likely age groups to sleep the recommended number of hours per night, however this difference was not significant.

Between 2018 and 2022, the proportion of Canberrans who slept the recommended number of hours per night decreased slightly, however this decrease was not significant.

ACT General Health Survey.

Line graph of percentage of Canberrans who self-report sleeping the recommended number of hours per night, by year from 2018 to 2022. In 2022, 60.4% of Canberrans report sleeping the recommended number of hours compared to 63.7% in 2021.

Respondents were asked how many hours sleep they get on a usual night. It does not include naps during the day.

Sleep Health Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep for adults aged 18 to 64 years and 7 to 8 hours for adults aged 65 years and over. For more information, visit How much sleep do you really need? | Sleep Health Foundation.

This indicator shows self-reported data collected through computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Estimates were weighted to adjust for differences in the probability of selection among respondents and were benchmarked to the estimated residential population using the latest available Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates.

Persons include respondents who identified as male, female, other and those who refused to answer.

Statistically significant differences are difficult to detect for smaller jurisdictions such as the Australian Capital Territory. Sometimes, even large apparent differences may not be statistically significant. This is particularly the case in breakdowns of small populations because the small sample size means that there is not enough power to identify even large differences as statistically significant.