MOST AMERICANS WANT TO AGE WELL—SO WHAT’S GETTING IN THE WAY?

Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

• HEALTH’s new survey shows most Americans want to age well, but turning healthy intentions into lasting habits is the real challenge.
• Experts say small, consistent lifestyle changes are more effective—and sustainable—than chasing perfection.
• Cost, stress, and information overload can get in the way, making trusted guidance more important than ever.

This article is part of HEALTH’s Longevity Insights Report.

Most Americans want to age well—and many of us already know what that generally requires: moving regularly, eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and keeping up with preventive care. The hard part isn’t necessarily knowing what to do, it’s consistently fitting those habits into everyday life.

According to a new survey from HEALTH, more than 9 in 10 Americans say that living a healthier life is important to them, and nearly everyone is actively focused on at least one aspect of their health. Yet only one in three say they’ve built sustainable habits that support healthy aging.

So why is this kind of behavior change so difficult—and what can we do to incorporate healthy habits into our everyday lives?

The Gap Between Knowing and Doing

As the new survey shows, health and aging well are core values for most people. Nearly all respondents (99%) said they are actively focused on at least one aspect of their health, and 91% said living a healthy life is important to them. Eighty-three percent of people also said they engage with health information and guidance weekly (and one in three do this daily).

But there’s a disconnect between awareness and action—only 36% of people surveyed reported building solid, sustainable habits that support a healthier life.

Experts say this is a common challenge. “Making a change is really difficult,” Bonnie Carpenter, EdD, a clinical psychologist based in Philadelphia, told HEALTH. “What we do becomes ingrained in our brain—it’s wired to support the habits we do again and again and again.” 

That’s because even if you want to make a change, your brain leans toward what it already finds familiar. Those behaviors can feel easier and more rewarding simply because you’ve repeated them so many times.

Additionally, the desire for change often isn’t enough to trigger action. “A lot of people confuse motivation with actually taking action,” Rachel Goldman, PhD, a clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told HEALTH.

But relying on motivation to get you started—or continually push you forward—isn’t always the best path. Motivation fluctuates day to day, which is why making a plan is crucial.

“We have to take action; even a teeny tiny bit of action creates momentum,” said Goldman. “Many times it’s the behavior that creates motivation. It helps create this ‘Wow, I did it,’ which can build the confidence and create the motivation and momentum to keep it going.”

The Real Barriers Are More Complicated Than Willpower

Creating a plan is often easier said than done—real-world stresses and constraints can make it difficult to follow through.

“Barriers can be internal and external,” Tanya Spruill, PhD, an associate professor of population health and medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told HEALTH. “There are a whole host of them—motivation by itself isn’t enough.”

One internal barrier is a perceived lack of urgency, according to Spruill—one reported by 11% of survey participants. This can be a particular problem when you want to make changes to support healthy aging, since the potential payoff may feel way in the future. “It could seem so far off in the distance that it doesn’t compete with our current challenges and burdens,” she said.

Other barriers are more immediate. Survey respondents listed cost as the biggest deterrent to taking action (42%), followed by having to sift through too much information (20%), not having enough time (18%), or being in an environment or circumstances that make taking action too hard (16%).

Certain environmental factors can come into play too, said Spruill. Lack of access to healthy foods, not having safe places to exercise or move your body, or being a caregiver for young children or aging parents (and sometimes both), can all make healthy behaviors difficult to start and maintain.

“There’s just a gazillion external barriers and reasons why things get in the way of people acting on their intentions,” Spruill said. “And the competing priorities fit together in terms of sometimes immobilizing people [from getting started].” 

Information Overload May Be Making Things Worse

With 1 in 5 survey participants specifically calling out “information overload,” it’s a barrier that deserves a closer look. The majority of survey respondents (89%) said that the amount of health information out there—on social media, discussed in social circles, or seen on TV—can feel overwhelming.

“It can create a paralysis for action when you get 15 or 20 opinions on how to go about a habit change,” said Carpenter. “You keep looking and looking, but you don’t know which way to go.”

A lot of that available information is also conflicting, said Spruill—especially on the internet, where anyone can post anything on their feeds and have it reach millions of people.

“There’s so much health information out there that’s not vetted,” said Spruill. “The temptation is to look for shortcuts, like ‘oh, this new guidance can give me more results or faster results.’ And it’s dangerous because they’re often anecdotal or not evidence-based.”

One way to cut through the noise is to make sure the health information you’re consuming comes from experts or organizations that have relevant expertise. In fact, 91% of people surveyed said they’d only take action if the guidance came from credible sources. 

This can include published, peer-reviewed research on the topic, said Spruill—in particular, look for studies labeled as a “review” or “meta-analysis,” which summarize and synthesize the results of multiple primary studies. If you’re thinking about taking guidance from individuals, make sure they have the relevant education or certifications for the topic at hand. If you’re looking for dietary advice, for example, you’d want your source to be a registered dietitian—not a fitness trainer.

Why Small Changes May Be the Real Solution

The best advice for wellness and healthy aging tends to hinge on tried-and-true habits. “The goal should be to keep it simple,” said Spruill. “Focus on what we know to be true.”

That means making time for regular physical activity, eating a balanced diet, finding ways to reduce stress, and following a regular and restful sleep schedule, she said.

But healthy aging doesn’t require changing everything at once. The survey found that 85% of respondents believe small lifestyle changes can make a major difference, while 56% said they don’t feel pressured to fix every aspect of their health.

Time and again, experts emphasize making small, gradual changes to help habits stick over the long haul. It’s what people tend to look for, too: 95% of survey respondents said they believe guidance on small, incremental changes can help close the gap between knowing what they should do for their health and actually doing it.

“Pick one small thing, focus on that first, and make it so easy that you’re going to do it,” said Goldman. That can look like going to bed just 10 minutes earlier each night, instead of overhauling your entire sleep schedule.

“Small changes can have a ripple effect,” Goldman said. “You wake up a little more rested, then maybe you have fewer cravings, and you choose to eat a healthier meal. Then maybe then you have energy to go take a walk.”

Tiny changes are also more likely to fit into your regular life, which helps them become lasting habits. “When it becomes automatic and part of your routine, you don’t have to think about it anymore,” Goldman said. “It’s like, ‘this is my lifestyle.’”

Aim for consistency with your intended changes, not perfection, and try not to beat yourself up during times when you slip back into your previous patterns—that’s completely normal.

Americans don’t necessarily need more pressure to age well. They need credible guidance that recognizes the realities of their lives and helps them identify changes that feel manageable enough to sustain.

“There is no single day or week or month that matters that much,” Spruill said. “It’s what you do overall; it’s the small changes over years that matters for healthy aging.”

Read the original article on Health

2026-08-04T12:05:12Z