The majority of Americans report feeling their happiest during the summer months and experience the blues at summer’s end. Even so, 60% report that they feel re-energized during the seasonal transition from summer to fall; they view it as an opportunity to reset their goals, which for many includes rebooting the healthy habits they let fall by the wayside during summer.
These are some of the findings from the End-of-Summer Checkup, a survey from digital health company Rally Health, Inc. that examines Americans’ perception of their health routines during the summer, including changes in dietary and fitness routines, as well as end-of-summer mood shifts and their look toward autumn. Findings include:
- The transition from summer to fall can be a downer. Americans overall (58%) are happiest during the summer and 60% report feeling sad when the days start getting shorter. Some (51%) admit that they experience end-of-summer blues, and some (40%) report that the end of summer is stressful because it means it’s back to “normal life.”
- Still, a majority of Americans feel re-energized by the seasonal transition and use it to sharpen their focus on personal goals. Sixty percent say they make the most of the transition from summer to fall by using it as an opportunity to set new personal goals and resolutions for the remainder of the year.
- And for many Americans, it’s specifically about their health goals. Forty-five percent say they use the end of summer as an opportunity to reboot the healthy habits they let slip during summer. Taking the backseat in summer, they say, are healthy eating habits (44%), exercise routines (42%) and sleep schedules (59%).
- However, there is more to be done to reboot health. While one in three Americans say they use the end of summer as a time to visit their doctor, either for an annual checkup or screenings, about the same amount (35%) report that they don’t have a primary care doctor. One in four parents doesn’t think they need to take their child to the doctor unless the child is sick. At the same time, almost 70% say they want to learn more about preventive health care and how to approach it.
- Ranking their health priorities, 44% of Americans say mental health is the No. 1 most important area of health to them. It is followed by sleep (25%), nutrition (16%), social health (9%) and exercise (6%).
“At Rally, we’re always seeking insight into the views and needs of Americans related to their health so we can better support them to live healthier lives,” said Brenda Yang, chief marketing officer, Rally Health. “We learned from this survey that the transition from summer to fall is a good time for people to refocus their health priorities, and our goal is to help them do just that by offering a simple web and mobile tool that enables them to better manage their health.”
For additional findings from the survey, please visit http://RallyHealth.com/SummerSurvey
About the Survey
The End-of-Summer Checkup is a survey by Rally Health, Inc. It was conducted by global market research firm Edelman Intelligence and included 1,000 respondents from the U.S. general public (18+, weighted to be nationally representative of age, gender, region, race/ethnicity, and education). Fieldwork took place in July 2019. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 p.p.
About Rally Health, Inc.
Rally Health, Inc. is a consumer-centric digital health company that makes it easy for individuals to take charge of their health and collaborates with health plans, health care providers, and employers to engage consumers. The company’s flagship offering is Rally®, a leading digital health platform that delivers web and mobile solutions to help people manage their health and well-being, employee benefits, and health care needs. More than 45 million consumers have access to the Rally platform through more than 200,000 employers, and health plans including UnitedHealthcare, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, and Health Alliance. With offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Los Angeles, Cypress, CA, and Las Vegas, the team behind Rally Health has been working together since 2010 to transform the consumer health industry. Rally Health is part of the Optum business of UnitedHealth Group. For more information, please visit www.RallyHealth.com
