Despite reporting slightly worse physical and mental health, Americans are feeling more optimistic about their vitality, according to a new analysis from the Cigna Group, which concludes that employers can play a key role in addressing these challenges.
The report is based on a survey of 10,000 adults conducted by Morning Consult in June and is based on Evernorth's vitality index, which aims to quantify health and well-being. It found that 39% reported they prioritized physical health, down from 42% last year. In addition, 48% said they feel capable of managing their emotions, down 3% from the 2022 report.
However, 47% of people said they are looking forward to each day, an increase of 4% compared to 2022. And 41% said they feel vital and alive, compared to 39% in last year's report.
Cigna Group CEO David Cordani said in an announcement that Evernorth's index was developed particularly to track changes in well-being in the wake of COVID-19, which has had a huge impact on all facets of patients' health.
“The disruption of the past few years has had a profound impact on our collective health and well-being, and we now have an unprecedented opportunity to change the way health and vitality is addressed in this country,” Cordani said. "While these insights guide us to work that can be done to improve vitality, we know we’ll be most effective working in collaboration across every aspect of our community, patient by patient, person by person.”
Higher vitality scores are associated with better habits around health and greater engagement with a person's own wellness, according to the report. For example, 49% of people who report high vitality said they get at least five hours of exercise each week, compared to 17% of those with low vitality scores.
More than half (54%) of those with high vitality scores said they eat fruit at least once a day, and 92% said they get at least five hours of sleep per day. Just 20% of those with low vitality scores reported daily fruit intake, and 73% said they get at least five hours of sleep each day.
Despite the signs of optimism, the report still found signs that many people are concerned about access to healthcare if they do need it. Nearly a quarter (23%) of people said they skipped out on care due to cost this year, and 22% said the same about prescriptions.
Transportation issues were also a barrier; 21% said they did not seek out care because they could not secure transportation.
Mental health is playing a major factor in vitality, the report found. People with strong mental health were 10 times as likely to have high scores on vitality.
Twenty-four percent of people said they had received counseling from a mental health professional, up from 20% in last year's report. However, for those who did not receive care despite needing it, cost was the largest barrier, followed by successfully finding a provider.
Adults in Generation Z were the most likely to report struggles with their mental health, followed by millennials and Generation Xers. Baby boomers were the most likely to rate their mental health as either "excellent" or "very good."
In tandem, Gen Zers and millennials were the groups most likely to have received counseling in the past year, and, for those who did not, the most likely struggle was with with cost, according to the report.
So where do employers come in? The study found that people with high vitality scores are more satisfied with their jobs and more likely to pursue tasks that interest them at work compared to people with low vitality. Workers with lower vitality scores report feeling less capable on the job, less confident that they can perform well and less willing to go the extra mile to help their company succeed.
A positive work culture, satisfying benefits and good pay are all contributors to vitality, according to the report, meaning employers can take steps to address these challenges within their workforces.
“Importantly, we also continue to see the significant impact vitality has on people’s success in their professional lives, both in our research and in early pilots of the Evernorth Vitality Index with employers," said David Brailer, M.D., Ph.D., chief health officer at the Cigna Group, in the announcement. "People with higher vitality are more present in their jobs, more productive, and perform their roles to a higher standard, indicating that employers both have an important role to play and see the benefits of investing in their employees’ health and vitality.”