Are Healthy Habits Associated With Reduced Mental Health Problems?
Abstract Background: Mental illness is an increasing problem in developed countries and affect a large number of the Spanish population. Moreover, it contributes to early retirement and also some working conditions, such as the stress level or the satisfaction with the job, are associated with an the risk of depressive and anxiety symptoms. The purpose of this article is to investigate the Spanish regional differences in the effect that some life conditions, such as obesity, doing exercise regularly, having a good diet, not smoking or not drinking alcohol has on mental health problems. Methods: We use data from the Spanish National Health Survey of 2017 in order to estimate a multilevel logit model with the objective to calculate the effects of life conditions factors on mental health outcomes. The main objective is to provide a comparable framework for the Spanish population with different characteristics though multilevel analysis. Results: People has, in average, 10.6% chances of having depression across all regions. Similarly we can show that in average, the probability of having anxiety problems is a 9.4% and is a 2.2% in case of other mental illnesses across the Spanish Regions. Men have less probability of having mental health problems, the same as married people, those with higher level of studies and the ones which are satisfied at work. Moreover, having healthy habits reduce the probability of suffering any mental disorder. On the other hand, older people and obese have more probability of developing a mental illness. Conclusions: Mental disorders are a growing public health problem in developed countries. So that, Governments has taken measures to deal with the problem such as the prevention. In order to prevent the mental problems they have to concentrate efforts in stress reduction, measures to decrease alcohol and tobacco consumption, to incentive the healthy life avoiding obesity problems, etc.