BioCare
UNHEALTHIEST CITY
Bristol is home to the unhealthiest people in the UK, it was revealed yesterday (Fri).
A study showed one in five residents of the west country hub never do any exercise while four in ten eat two or more takeaways every week.
In addition, people in the South West city smoke an average of five cigarettes every day and a third drink more than ten alcoholic drinks in the typical week.
Finally, the couch potatoes spend up to three hours of every day watching television.
The poll of 3,000 Brits was conducted by BioCare, which provides supplements to consumers, via the practitioner community and health food stores throughout the UK.
Lauren Heape, a spokesman for BioCare said: ''This survey was devised so we could recognise areas where people were clearly not seeking any help for their health problems, such as stress levels, nutrition, back pain, and so on.
''The results clearly demonstrate that those living in Bristol and other areas identified as the unhealthiest could make a positive difference to their health by visiting their local health practitioner for advice on how to make a difference to their lifestyle and therefore well- being.''
The poll revealed Worcester was the second unhealthiest place to live in the UK - with the average adult suffering from more than five bouts of illness over the last 12 months.
Three of these illnesses require trips to see the local GP, but despite feeling under the weather, these sickly people continued going to work.
Half of all people living in Worcester eat a minimum of two takeaways a week and only exercises a couple of times a week.
The third unhealthiest city is Glasgow.
The city is one of the most stressful places for workers, who claim to be over-worked and under pressure most of the time.
Workers in the Scottish city work through their lunch hour at least six times a month preferring to make regular trips to the vending machines instead, and a third don't take all of their holiday allowance.
Unsurprisingly, nearly half of Glaswegians admit they are overweight - but are too busy to do anything about it.
The Welsh city of Swansea is the fourth unhealthiest city, closely followed by Plymouth.
Lauren Heape, spokeswoman for BioCare continued: ''The healthiest city, Portsmouth, is home to 70 per cent of people that strongly feel that visiting a complementary health practitioner truly does benefit their health.
''The unhealthy Glasgow residents should take a leaf out of Portsmouth's book and seek out their local practitioner for guidance, maybe to help relieve their stress levels or for nutritional advice on how to combat weight issues.''
In contrast, the poll reveals Portsmouth as the place where the healthiest people live - as folk living in the seaside town exercise at least three times a week, and a third walk to work every day.
Once at their place of work, two thirds of people frequently stand or move around - and more than one in ten don't allow themselves any snacks or junk food.
And people living in Portsmouth are the least likely to smoke - with a massive 92 per cent claiming never to touch a cigarette.
A third of residents also consider complementary health methods to be beneficial to a healthy lifestyle, and visit a professional regularly.
And despite being one of the most stressful places to work in the UK - Chelmsford is the second healthiest city.
Although workers in the city work late several times a month and rarely take their holiday allowance due to pressing work commitments, they still make sure they take regular exercise and eat a relatively healthy diet.
Gloucester is the third healthiest city according to the research.
A quarter of all residents haven't had any form of illness over the last year - not even the common cold.
And six out of ten people haven't seen a doctor in over 12 months - or had any time off work.
Swansea and Plymouth complete the top five healthiest cities.
TOP 10 UNHEALTHIEST CITIES
1. Bristol
2. Worcester
3. Glasgow
4. Southampton
5. Belfast
6. Brighton
7. Norwich
8. Coventry
9. Leeds
10. Sheffield
TOP 10 HEALTHIEST CITIES
1. Portsmouth
2. Chelmsford
3. Gloucester
4. Swansea
5. Plymouth
6. Newcastle
7. Edinburgh
8. Cardiff
9. Birmingham
10. Wolverhampton
