Smoking and Health Behaviours

Health-promoting behaviours, such as exercise, eating a balanced diet and quitting smoking, have a range of positive impacts on physical health. They can also promote wellbeing and support recovery from mental health conditions.   People with mental health conditions are less likely to engage in health-promoting behaviours. This is due to a range of reasons, including wider socioeconomic factors such as poverty. This subsection includes a local data pack which gives an overview of key data and trends

Evidence base for prevention 

The Royal College of Psychiatrists produced a report in 2024 summarising evidence around public mental health interventions, which included interventions to prevent the loss of healthy years and premature death, including for people with mental health conditions. These interventions are summarised in the diagram below. Full details are on pages 13 – 16 in the report.

Figure: Evidence-based interventions to prevent mental illness and promote healthy life expectancy for people with mental illness. Image based on: Summary of evidence on public mental health interventions

Another example is annual physical health checks for people with severe mental illness.