Australians tend to be very confident about managing our own health, but new research from Healthylife suggests this confidence may not reflect reality.
The Healthylife National Health Confidence Survey, with more than 1000 respondents, found a mean National Health Confidence Score of 75 out of 100, indicating strong self-belief in maintaining good health — however, the findings highlight a disconnect between perception and actual behaviour.
‘Achieving good health isn’t just about willpower’
“It’s a common misconception that achieving good health is simply a matter of personal willpower,” says Healthylife Chief Health Officer and Accredited Practising Dietitian Simone Austin.
“Our data reveals a national ‘blind spot,’ where overconfidence, or inaccurate perceptions, a type of cognitive bias, often known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, can mask the health challenges the nation truly faces.
“While 91% of survey respondents agree or strongly agree they can implement healthy habits, the reality of their food purchasing and physical activity levels tells a different story.”
While being confident can be good, the report highlights that this high level of self-assurance often clashes with rising chronic disease rates and the reality that many of us are not adopting the healthy habits that we perceive we can.
Research shows only about 1in 4 people (25%) aged 15 years and over meet the recommended physical activity guidelines, and the report data shows people don’t purchase a diet in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines, despite the report showing it can be cheaper to do so.
Medication and supplement risks
The survey found 95% of Australians believe they know how to use medications appropriately, yet behaviour often falls short, such as patients stopping medications for chronic conditions within the first year.
Similarly, 85% expressed confidence in choosing supplements, yet many lack an understanding of the ingredients and risks, such as Vitamin B6 overconsumption causing peripheral neuropathy.
Dietary choices
Despite 87% of people agreeing or strongly agreeing that their environments support them to eat healthy, the survey data on Australians’ food purchases for at-home eating shows nearly double the number of discretionary food serves purchased (5.7 per day) compared to vegetables (2.9 per day).
According to the report, these purchasing habits are not in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines and show minimal shifts over 4 years.
Digital influence and misinformation
The report also highlights the growing reliance on digital health information, with 46% of respondents reporting moderate to high trust in AI-generated advice.
Trust was significantly higher among younger Australians compared with older groups.
Ms Austin cautions that high confidence must be matched with reliable information.
“Even though AI is a powerful tool for health information, there is a significant amount of misinformation, so to bridge this gap, high confidence must be built on accurate self-awareness and credible information from trusted health professionals,” she says.
Top tips for a healthier life
Ms Austin shares her top tips for a healthier life:
- Maintain curiosity: Ms Austin suggests that customers should remain curious, noting that they often ‘don’t know what they don’t know’. She encourages broadening perspectives and seeking feedback, warning that just because something is familiar, advertised, or labelled as ‘natural’ doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe.
- Identify misinformation: Ms Austin advises learning to spot misinformation and to audit “blind spots”, particularly regarding “AI advice”, to overcome the Dunning-Kruger effect. She recommends cross-checking health information with credible, formal sources, including General Practitioners, dietitians, pharmacists, and health agencies.
- Master the environment: Ms Austin highlights the importance of identifying surroundings — where people sleep, work, shop, and socialise — that may make healthy habits difficult. She suggests implementing strategies to make healthy choices easier, such as writing a shopping list, planning grocery trips around the fresh-food aisles, and establishing safeguards, such as calming, quiet spaces at home to support quality sleep.
- The “plus one” vegetable rule: She encourages aiming to eat just one more 75g serve (a fist size) of vegetables daily to help reduce the risk of long-term illness.
- Use data, not guesswork: Ms Austin recommends utilising evidence-based tools, such as the Healthylife Food Tracker, to compare actual shopping habits against the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
