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Making negative lifestyle choices can be active – something people do – or passive – something people choose not or neglect to do. They include:

• not doing enough physical activity
• being too sedentary, ie sitting or lying down for long periods
• having an unhealthy diet, eg eating too much or too little, eating too much fat/sugar/salt
• not getting enough sleep or having erratic sleep patterns
• smoking
• abusing alcohol, ie drinking too much and/or too often
• misusing substances, eg taking drugs, using performance-enhancing drugs, overusing prescription or over-the-counter drugs
• self-harming
• taking unnecessary harmful risks, eg having unprotected sex, driving over the speed limit
• ignoring signs and symptoms of illness or emotional strain

The effects

A negative lifestyle affects the body and mind. The negative effects can be short-term and long-term. They may also affect others, for example, someone's children. Generally, people are more motivated to change their behaviour to gain positive benefits than to avoid negative effects, especially when the negative effects may not appear until far into the future.