lifestyle

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The term will be familiar to modern readers in the meaning given in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (2006): 'the way in which a person lives', although it has a much older, specialized meaning introduced to the language of psychology by the neurologist Alfred Adler in the 1920s. In recent years it has been absorbed into marketing jargon to mean 'the sum total of the behaviour patterns and likes and dislikes of particular customers or a section of the market' and has developed an attributive or adjectival use (i.e. coming before a noun):

The latest lifestyle choice for the vibrant elderly is the 'retirement village'—Independent, 1995.

In some contexts, way of life, or even just life, seems preferable to a word that has become so bogged down in promotional hype. The derivative word lifestyler, meaning 'someone with a special lifestyle' has an ephemeral ring but is now common, often linked with the word alternative to denote people who lead unconventional lives:

The centre is built on a hilltop amid a broadleaf wood and is home to a community of proselytising alternative lifestylers—Holiday Which?, 1991

The recent influx of new voters from Boston into southern New Hampshire and alternative lifestylers into neighbouring Maine had boosted the Democratic vote—Independent, 2000.

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Individual pattern of living as reflected by interests, opinions, spending habits, and activities.

In public health, "lifestyle" generally means a pattern of individual practices and personal behavioral choices that are related to elevated or reduced health risk. Since the mid-1970s, there has been a growing recognition of the significant contribution of personal behavior choices to health risk—in the United States thirty-eight percent of deaths in 1990 were attributed to tobacco, diet and activity patterns, and alcohol. Equally important, illnesses attributable to lifestyle choices play a role in reducing health-related quality of life and in creating health disparities among different segments of the population.

Lifestyles are born of a multitude of causes, from childhood determinants to personality makeup to influences in the cultural, physical, economic, and political environments. Thus, efforts to encourage good health practices should also promote environments that support them. A good resource for lifestyle information is http://www.healthfinder.gov.

(SEE ALSO: Behavior, Health-Related; Behavioral Determinants; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; Health Promotion and Education)

Bibliography

McGinnis, J. M., and Foege, W. H. (1993). "Actual Causes of Death in the United States." Journal of the American Medical Association 270:2207–2212.

— DENNIS D. TOLSMA

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Associated closely with particular ways of living promoted through advertising and branding, the word ‘lifestyle’ has been used increasingly widely in a design context from the 1960s onwards although the term had originally been coined in the late 1920s by the psychologist Alfred Adler to denote the ways in which childhood personality traits marked out future behaviour.

IN BRIEF: The way one lives.

A true chocolate lover finds ways to accommodate his passion and make it work with his lifestyle. — Julie Davis

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For a list of words related to lifestyle, see:

• Attitudes and Behavior - lifestyle: consistent pattern of one's life, attitudes, customs, values, and economic standing

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See words rhyming with "lifestyle."

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - livsstil

Nederlands (Dutch)
levensstijl

Français (French)
n. - style de vie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Lebensstil

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - τρόπος και επίπεδο ζωής

Italiano (Italian)
stile di vita

Português (Portuguese)
n. - estilo (m) de vida

Русский (Russian)
образ жизни

Español (Spanish)
n. - estilo de vida

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - livsstil

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
生活方式

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 生活方式

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 사는 양식

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 生き方, 生活様式

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الطريقه التي يعيش بها الفرد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סיגנון חיים, אורח-חיים‬

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