Barriers to Healthy Nutrition and Exercise Behaviors Among Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Healthcare workers often struggle with being able to complete healthy eating and exercise behaviors, and this can lead to issues like obesity and chronic illness. The focus of this chapter is on the healthy nutrition and exercise behaviors of healthcare workers, specifically workplace barriers encountered that hinder those behaviors. The major barrier categories discussed in this chapter are time and shiftwork issues, job demands/work stress, absence of healthy options, lack of health knowledge, the work environment, social barriers, and personal factors. Potential facilitators to health behavior and initiatives organizations can implement to improve the health of healthcare employees are also included.

Subjective and Objective Assessment of Recommended Physical Activity in Female Healthcare Professionals

“…Various studies have explored the attitudes of healthcare professionals toward health behaviors, revealing mixed findings [25][26][27][28][29]. Despite their awareness of the importance of regular physical activity, medical professionals exhibit similar engagement levels as the general population.…”