Study: DAK: Two thirds of Germans find fasting useful

study
DAK: Two thirds of Germans find fasting useful

According to a study, a good two thirds of Germans (67 percent) consider fasting to be useful from a health perspective.

In the group of 18 to 29 year olds, 76 percent even consider it appropriate to avoid stimulants and consumption, according to a representative Forsa survey commissioned by the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit, the results of which are available to the German Press Agency. For the representative survey according to the health insurance company, 1,005 people aged 18 and over were interviewed online from February 6th to 9th.

According to DAK-Gesundheit, one in two respondents in the study stated that they had often gone without a certain luxury food or consumer good for several weeks. According to the study results, fasting is out of the question for more than one in five people (21 percent). The older the respondents, the less they can imagine fasting.

Alcohol, sweets, meat

Around three quarters of those surveyed would most likely avoid alcohol (77 percent) and sweets (72 percent) while fasting. Around one in two people would no longer eat meat (54 percent) or give up smoking (50 percent). 42 percent would forego television. A good quarter would do without their smartphone or the Internet in general (26 percent). Almost one in four people would leave their car behind (24 percent).

Compared to the average across all age groups, according to the survey, younger people are significantly more likely to no longer eat meat (62 percent). Their ambitions when it comes to smoking (58 percent) and watching television (46 percent) are also above the average for all age groups. In contrast, only 48 percent of those over 60 would eat less meat. In this age group, 40 percent would avoid smoking and 26 percent would avoid watching television.

Lent begins for Christians on Ash Wednesday.

dpa