How healthy are Bermudians? In December 2014, the Department of Health concluded a study to measure the risk of developing a chronic disease such as heart diseases, cancer, stroke, or diabetes for the Government of Bermuda.

In total, 42 per cent of Bermudians had three or more specific risk factors:

• daily smokers
• low fruit and vegetable consumption
• insufficient physical activity
• overweight
• raised or high blood pressure

Read the

 for detailed findings.

Health surveys of Bermuda’s residents are conducted every three to five years. These health surveys collect information about the health status of residents in Bermuda, their use of health services and  facilities, and health related aspects of their lifestyle.

The aim of the surveys are to:  

• obtain information on a range of health issues,
• enable trends in health to be monitored over time, 
• and  provide information on health indicators for health priority areas.

Eating well in Bermuda

In 2011, most Bermudian adults were overweight or obese. To combat obesity in Bermuda, the government developed the Eat Well Dietary Guidelines to help Bermudians make healthy choices with food.

Maintaining health and healthy living

You’re never far from support for your health in Bermuda. See if one of the Department of Health’s programmes can help you.

The Department of Health provides several helpful resources for making healthy choices, all of which are available in PDF format:

• Get helpful tips on keeping a healthy body weight, exercising, and serving sizes in the
  File

  Healthy Living Guide (2.82 MB)
• Find specific information on
  
  File

  maintaining healthy blood sugar levels (818.5 KB)

  or download a

  File

  Personal Diabetes Passport (186.36 KB)

  to use to track visits to your physician.

• Not sure how to read the labels on food?
  
  File

  How-to-read-food-labels.pdf (458.23 KB)

   explains how much fat, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar you should be looking for.

• Your children’s health knowledge starts young. Set a good example early by
  
  File

  tips on how to prepare healthy school lunches for their children (578.77 KB)

   and by having

  File

  happy-meal-times.pdf (835.78 KB)

   from an early age.

• Keep track of how many servings of each food you are eating every day with the Department of Health’s
  
  File

  Food-groups.pdf (1.55 MB)

  , then plan your family’s weekly meals using the

  File

  Menu-planner.pdf (768.53 KB)

   Having your own

  File

  personal-eating-plan.pdf (524.56 KB)

   can also help you stick to healthy eating habits.

It’s also important to keep up to date on your immunizations. Refer to the Government of Bermuda’s recommended immunizations schedule  to make sure that you are.

Health professionals should refer to the

in the event of a health epidemic.