A new study by SportsShoes.com has revealed the most health-conscious countries around the world, with England taking second place as the nation most frequently searching the net for advice on healthy habits.
Whether you want to become part of the 5am club, or just drink your advised eight glasses of water a day, most of us turn to Google to find tips on how best to adopt our newly desired habit, and so SportsShoes.com has dug through the data to reveal which countries are turning to the web most for health advice this year.
The study analysed Google search data for over 60 terms associated with a range of healthy habits, from nutrition to wellness and fitness, for over 220 countries, and crowned the United States of America as the country hitting enter on the most health-related queries.
The UK’s Top 10 Healthy Habits
In total, Brits searching for healthier lifestyle habits account for an enormous 12.9 million annual Google searches, and with 19% of the British population planning on joining a gym in the next calendar year1,it’s no surprise to see ‘gym near me’ is the UK’s most searched for health query.
Completing the top three are searches involving vitamins D and B12, two nutrients that contribute to healthy maintenance of our bodies. During dark winter months in the UK, many people will take vitamin D supplements to ensure good bone health despite a lack of sunlight, and vitamin B12 injections are now even offered by aestheticians as a wellness treatment.
The rest of the top 10 features a variety of newer trends nestled amongst classic healthy habits that have been popular for a long time. Traditional activities like tai chi (eighth) and squash (ninth) rank highly, as does mental wellness. Meditation is in fourth place with 584,000 searches, while newer trends like lymphatic drainage are also seeing lots of interest – garnering over 600 million views on TikTok and some 84,300 searches on Google.
| Rank | Healthy Habit | Number of Searches |
| 1 | Gym near me | 6,614,000 |
| 2 | Vitamin D | 1,416,500 |
| 3 | Vitamin B12 | 1,092,000 |
| 4 | Meditation | 584,000 |
| 5 | Couch to 5k | 534,700 |
| 6 | Yoga class near me | 386,100 |
| 7 | Kegel exercises | 327,400 |
| 8 | Tai chi near me | 130,600 |
| 9 | Squash courts near me | 107,900 |
| 10 | Lymphatic drainage | 84,300 |
Top 10 Countries Searching for Health and Wellbeing Habits Most
The USA is revealed as the country searching the most frequently for healthy habits they can adopt, with a total of 49 million searches related to mental and physical fitness, improving sleep, nutrition and wellness. England and Brazil complete the top three, both pulling in just over 11 million searches for a variety of healthy habits each.
Vitamin D and ‘gym near me’ are most frequently searched in a variety of countries, with 50% of the top 10 countries looking to up their intake of the bone health vitamin, and 40% looking to find gyms in their local areas.
| Rank | Country | Number of Searches | Top Searched Habit |
| 1 | United States of America | 49,431,400 | Gym near me |
| 2 | England | 11,416,960 | Vitamin D |
| 3 | Brazil | 11,214,620 | Vitamin D |
| 4 | Germany | 6,185,410 | Vitamin B12 |
| 5 | Canada | 5,685,820 | Gym near me |
| 6 | Mexico | 5,428,720 | Vitamin D |
| 7 | Spain | 5,213,510 | Gym near me |
| 8 | Australia | 4,514,130 | Gym near me |
| 9 | Italy | 4,304,960 | Vitamin D |
| 10 | Japan | 4,007,310 | Vitamin D |
Dan Cartner, Head of Marketing at SportsShoes.com commented: “There are so many different aspects to our health and wellbeing that it’s easy to become overwhelmed about which habits to incorporate into our lifestyles first. This research shows that it’s certainly not a one-size-fits-all approach, with various countries opting for different habits that best suit their needs.
With working from home increasing the number of us living more sedentary lifestyles, it’s great to see that there’s so much intent in the UK to bring some movement into our daily lives, whether that’s by joining the gym, heading out to play squash or practising tai-chi. No matter which healthy habits you try to incorporate next, we hope this has providedsome inspiration and perhaps comfort that you’re not alone in your desire to accomplish your health goals.”
A full breakdown of the global results for countries searching for the healthiest habits can be found at: https://www.sportsshoes.com/running-hub/health-wellbeing/healthiest-habits/
