Did you know around 40% of all deaths in England are related to lifestyle habits such as smoking, eating too much unhealthy food, and inactivity? But a simple online quiz – and a new campaign – can help you improve your health.

The NHS spends £11billion a year on treating avoidable conditions and Ealing Council has joined forces with West London Mental Health Trust and Public Health England for One You Ealing, an unprecedented new health campaign and service. The trust launched it at Ealing Town Hall this week (26 July).

It aims to help you combat future health problems by encouraging you to make small changes to your lifestyle today.

Whether it is eating healthier food, drinking less alcohol, quitting smoking or just being more active, making changes in middle age can double your chances of being healthy at 70 and beyond.

Modern life makes it hard to be healthy. Without knowing it, by the time we reach our 40s and 50s many of us will have dramatically increased our chances of becoming ill later in life. Whether we are eating the wrong things, drinking more alcohol than we should, continuing to smoke, or just not being active enough, all of these things add up.

These habits could make it harder to keep up with the kids in the park or mean that your favourite pair of jeans are a bit tighter. More seriously, they increase the risk of you developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Our busy lives often mean that our own health is at the bottom of our list of priorities. One You Ealing is here to remind you that your health matters.

An online health quiz called How Are You? provides a practical way for you to identify risks in your lifestyle.

It provides personalised advice to help you take action where it is most needed. More than half (56%) of 40-60 year-olds who have already taken the quiz have said they were likely to change their lifestyle to improve their health because of the feedback the quiz gave them.

‘Get support to make changes’

Councillor Hitesh Tailor, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for health and adult services, said: “The lifestyles we lead can result in poor health and illnesses.  We want to help all our residents to move more, eat well, drink less, be smoke free and to make it easier for them to get support to make changes that will improve their wellbeing.”

Johnny Nota, service manager for One You Ealing, said: “I’m extremely pleased the trust is taking this step to provide holistic, person-centred care for the people of Ealing. It’s a truly community based service and we encourage everyone in the borough to get involved, because it’s never too late to make small changes to shape your future health.

“Currently 42% of adults in midlife are living with at least one long-term health condition which increases their risk of early death and disability. Modern day life makes it hard for people to make healthy choices, with bigger portions, desk-bound jobs or long commutes. One You Ealing gives people the chance to reappraise their lifestyle choices, put themselves first and get their health back on track.”

A number of other measures will be taking place locally:

• Stop smoking service – Specialised support to quit smoking at our stop smoking clinics. The service can also be accessed at local pharmacies or GP surgeries
• Health checks – Designed for high risk people who are less engaged with primary care services, these checks will identify aspects of individual’s lifestyles and family history which may put their health at risk. Teams will record height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and calculate BMI
• Childhood obesity – A free healthy lifestyle programme for children and their families, supporting them to become fitter and healthier
• Healthy walks – Short walks around Ealing to help people stay active
• Health trainers – A one-to-one service for people who want to make changes to their lifestyle. The service also offers group workshops to cover key health messages around healthy eating, physical activity, diabetes, alcohol, coronary heart disease, stroke, and blood pressure
• English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classes – Learners will improve their ability to read food and medicine labels, talk to health professionals and understand health advice
• Tuberculosis awareness – The project provides assistance to TB nurses and chest physicians about managing TB patients.

Find out more

For more information about One You Ealing, contact 0300 456 0556 or visit our website www.oneyouealing.org where you can also take the health quiz.

To see what other help and advice is available locally please visit www.ealing.gov.uk/oneyou