AusLeisure

New research from St.George Bank has found that Australians are spending up to $250 per month on being healthy and getting fit, with 100% of those surveyed buying health products or fitness memberships in the last month.

The costs include seven in 10 Australian’s embracing health and fitness trends through the purchase of vitamins and supplements, while half of those surveyed are regular buying active wear and 45% have investing in a gym membership.

For 20% of couples this cost increases to $500 per household.

Encouraging more Australians to ensure these costs are factored into a households everyday budget to avoid falling behind on their financial goals, Ross Miller, General Manager of St.George Bank stated “while it’s great to see a focus on physical wellbeing, it’s very important to balance this with financial wellbeing.

“Ensuring you have a budget in place for your physical wellbeing goals means you’re much better placed to retain your healthy habits throughout the entire year – not just for a few months.”

Only 42% of those surveyed said they have a specific budget in place for health and fitness products with two in 10 admitting they regularly over spend on fitness trends. Social media emerged as a key driver for a driver for this with three in 10 those surveyed saying they are influenced to spend more after scrolling.

Key findings – health and fitness spending trends

• All Australians who were surveyed said that they purchase health products or fitness memberships
• The most popular health product purchased by those surveyed was general vitamins with 70% of those surveyed buying these, followed by active wear (54.8%) and a gym membership (45%)
• The most important product follows a similar trend with general vitamins being the most important at 34.5%, a gym membership, 28.9% and health supplements such as powders/shakes, 8.2%
• 20.6% spending between $101-$250
• When asked specifically how much they spent on health and fitness products in a month, 14% said $50, 11% said $100 and 8% said $200
• Only 42% of Australians say they have a specific budget set aside for these purchases
• Social media also drives some Aussies to spend more with 34% saying social media encourages them to make health and fitness purchases
• Only 14% of those surveyed say they have multiple memberships with 20% feeling like they blow their budget on health and fitness products
• Compared to Australians overall budget, 67% spend 10% of their budget on health and fitness products, 19.3% spend 20% and 9.3% spend 30%
• The most popular health and fitness programs were dieting including Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, keto diet, Lite N Easy and paleo diet. Exercise programs named include Michelle Bridges and Kayla Itsines.

The research, conducted through Pure Profile, saw 1,000 Australians surveyed – of whom were 51% female and 49% male.

Speaking yesterday at the SportAccord convention on Gold Coast, Louise Burke, Head of Nutrition Strategy at the Australian Institute of Sport, highlighted that as many as one in four supplements could contain banned substances that are not declared on the label.

Burke stated “we need to … encourage and support the supplement industry to avoid practices that lead to products containing banned substances - deliberately or via contamination.”

The St.George Bank research, conducted through Pure Profile, saw 1,000 Australians surveyed – of whom were 51% female and 49% male.

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