Do we practise what we preach?

There are recommendations regarding many facets of lifestyle. We proposed to look at hospital doctors' habits in East Yorkshire.

A simple questionnaire was sent out to 574 doctors in the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Non-responders were re-mailed. Age, sex, grade, specialty, number of portions of fruit and vegetable per day, alcohol intake, smoking, exercise and hours worked.

301 doctors (238 males, 60 females) responded (response rate 58%). Approximately half of doctors who responded were consultants. Few respondents smoked (6.6%), and the mean alcohol consumption, 8.35 units per week (SE 0.54), was less than the recommended limits for men and women. Most doctors fell short of the "recommended" 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day (median 3 per day) and nearly half worked more than 56 hours per week. Most respondents took at least the recommended amount of exercise per week (112 SE25 minutes) although 26% of doctors took no exercise at all.