Investing in wellness: How healthy life choices can potentially lower your insurance premiums

Due to the many benefits, a healthy lifestyle is desirable whether you are considering life insurance or not. Making healthy choices positively impacts not only your physical health, but your mental wellbeing and overall quality of living.

While physical health and financial wellbeing are two important aspects of our lives, they are often viewed in isolation. The truth is that they are deeply intertwined and play a crucial role in our overall wellbeing. For example, when it comes to taking out a life insurance policy, the state of your health will potentially influence the cost of your premium.

Life insurers will often consider health factors when assessing risks, and if you are in good health, the cost can be significantly lower. If your health is poor, the probability of you making a claim in the future is higher and so life insurers can potentially charge a higher premium.

Peter Tilocca, Head of Underwriting at NobleOak shared his top tips for incorporating healthier habits into your daily life.

Don’t smoke, and drink alcohol moderately or not at all

Excessive alcohol consumption and smoking are among the biggest risk factors for health and play a significant role in how high your life insurance premiums may be.

Life insurance policies often have differing premium rates for smokers and non-smokers. The premiums for non-smokers are naturally lower, due to the harmful impact smoking has on overall health – particularly your heart and lung health. For example, smoking is the biggest preventable cause of cancer, and accounts for 13% of cancer cases per year. Studies have shown that risk of dying increases with the number of cigarettes smoked[1].

The same goes for alcohol consumption. Excessive drinking poses a serious threat to your heart, kidneys, liver, and other organs. As a result, if you drink a lot of alcohol, it could result in higher premiums.

Keep moving

Exercise is a superbly beneficial lifestyle choice. Regular physical activity is a tried-and-true means of managing weight, improving mental health and boosting energy.

Regular exercise can look different for everyone depending on your abilities and limitations. Whether you take up running, go for a daily walk around the block, or join a sports team, there are endless ways in which you can weave physical activity into your day-to-day that suits your lifestyle. At the end of the day, every move counts!

For example, a recent study[2] found that exercise helps people live longer even when walking significantly fewer than the often recommended 10,000 steps. The study found that middle aged people who walked at least 7,000 steps a day on average where less likely to die of cancer, heart disease or other causes over the next decade.

While a life insurer won’t directly ask you how much exercise you do, they will ask you about health conditions. Regular exercise, as proven by this study, often leads to better health.

Food is your fuel, so adopt a well-balanced diet

The food and nutrients you consume directly impact various aspects of your physical, mental, and emotional health. Our health is dependent on a well-balanced diet, so understanding what this looks like is important.

While everyone has preferences on what they like to eat, what they think is ethical to eat and what works best for their bodies, there are some basic guidelines to help improve your diet.

Cutting out excess sugar, salt, and fat is a good place to start, as these can have a big impact on key health markers like blood sugar levels, cholesterol, and blood pressure. If these are high, you may have to pay higher premiums for life insurance products. Some insurers may also reward you for healthy living by providing additional discounts.

There are some foods you could focus on consuming more of, such as fresh fruit and vegetables. Lean meat, fish, vegetable oils and whole grains can also be great for your health. By incorporating more of these food groups into your meals, you can work towards building a healthier diet that can boost overall wellbeing. The www.eatforhealth.gov.au website provides a great visual reference of the food groups and what proportion of each food group you should consider eating every day.[3]

Take care of existing or possible health issues

See your medical professional: If you go to the doctor or relevant health professional regularly, you can get on top of any potential issues before they become worse. Your health provider can help you to manage any potential concerns with the appropriate tests and treatment.

Take medicines correctly: If you take any prescribed medicines as per the instructions provided by your healthcare professional, you’ll manage existing health conditions better.

By integrating these simple healthy habits into your lifestyle, you can start to really reap the benefits of feeling better and having more energy day to day, and as a side benefit your insurance premiums may be cheaper when you take out cover.

Any financial product advice is general in nature only and does not take into account your individual circumstances, objectives, financial situation, or needs. Before acting on it, please consider the appropriateness of the information, having regard to those factors. Any third-party websites or tools referred to are subject to their own terms and conditions and NobleOak Life Limited makes no representation or warranty as to any information on those websites. Persons deciding whether to acquire or continue to hold life insurance issued by NobleOak Life Limited should consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement, Financial Services Guide and Target Market Determination for the product. NobleOak Life Limited ABN 85 087 648 708 AFSL 247302.

[1] https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prevention/smoking/smoking

[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/exercise-weight-loss-new-science-reveals-affects-cell-body-rcna9680

[3] https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating