The Interaction between subjective health and the '5' lifestyle factors: whole body heating, material and spiritual happiness, physical activity and cognitive functioning: preliminary data from the government-funded project THERMOHORMESIS

Abstract

<p>Aim of the study: to investigate the interaction between subjective health and the '5' lifestyle factors: whole-body heating, material and spiritual happiness, physical activity and cognitive functioning. </p> Methods: A total of 710 individuals (of which 558 self-identified as female and 152 as male) aged 18 to 64 years participated in the online survey of a representative sample of Lithuanian adults. The participants were enrolled in this cross-sectional survey, which was conducted as part of the THERMOHORMESIS project, using a snowball sampling method. An online questionnaire was shared through popular social networks and emails within the period October 2024 to February 2025. Individual characteristics, sauna-related habits and subjective health and well-being were assessed using the modified Sauna questionnaire (Hussain et al., 2019). Descriptive analysis, a two-way analysis of variance, and linear regression analysis were used to interpret the data. </p> Results: The survey results showed a significant positive correlation between women and men subjective health and material happiness (with β = 0.554 and p-value = 0.0), number of steps per day (β = 0.239, p-value = 0.0) and negative correlation between subjective health and body mass index (β = –0.285, p-value = 0.0). </p> Conclusions: These preliminary findings highlight that of all five lifestyle factors studied, material happiness and physical activity are the most important determinants of subjective health for Lithuanian women and men of different ages. </p>