Japan Survey Finds Drinkers Cut Down Before Health Checks, But Fail to Stick with Changes

Liver Concerns

Shizen Shokken, a Japanese health food company, conducted a survey of 510 men and women aged from 20 to 69 who drink alcohol regularly to find out more about their health attitudes prior to medical checkups. The survey found that 43% of the respondents were concerned about the condition of their liver, with 9.0% saying that they worry about it “often” and 34.0% “sometimes.”

The results also show that nearly the same percentage, at 43.9%, become aware of the need to rethink their drinking and lifestyle habits prior to a health checkup, with 11.2% becoming “very aware” and 32.7% “somewhat aware.”

Among the 224 respondents who are aware of the need to make changes, the most common specific action mentioned was “reducing alcohol consumption” (66.5%), followed by “improving diet” (47.3%) and “drinking more water and other fluids” (36.2%).

Survey results show that 69.2% of those who changed their drinking and lifestyle habits were not able to keep up the changes made in the period after a health checkup. In other words, people tend to let down their guard once the danger is past and slip back into their old habits.

Some of the reasons cited for the lack of perseverance included the following: “Too much self-control is stressful” (57.4%), “Can’t keep up motivation” (42.6%), “Gave in to hunger or temptation” (31.6%), “Too busy with work or daily life to form new habits” (31.0%), “Easily influenced by the environment when eating out, attending a drinking party, or having a meal with family members” (24.5%). Various reasons are cited, but it seems that people are a bit too lenient with themselves.

In addition, a survey of 511 physicians was conducted. When asked whether a person cutting back on alcohol just before a health checkup would affect the test results on liver functions, nearly 90% said that even such temporary abstinence could improve those results, with 39.7% saying the effect would be significant and 48.0% that it would occur to a certain extent.

However, the physicians also raised various concerns. The two most common concerns, mentioned by 50.1% and 49.7%, respectively, are that a temporary improvement could lead to complacency and that medical staff would not be able to obtain data based on a person’s actual lifestyle. While short-term changes can produce better results, it would not benefit the individual. Many of the physicians surveyed stressed that a health checkup is viewed as a way of gauging a person’s normal lifestyle.

Data Sources

• Survey on health checkups (Japanese) from Shizen Shokken.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)