LIVESTRONG.COM Survey Reveals 86 Percent of Americans Attempt Changes to Improve their Health but Less than Half are Successful

Consumers cite "lack of motivation," "lack of money" and "lack of time" as the top three factors that prevent them from successfully accomplishing changes that benefit their health

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 17, 2008 -- Findings from a survey released today reveal that the vast majority of Americans (86%) attempt changes to improve their overall health, but less than half of those who consider making lifestyle changes (46%) are actually successful. The survey, commissioned by LIVESTRONG.COM, the new online destination that provides users with a 360 degree social conversation on health and healthy living, fielded by Harris Interactive®, reaffirms that healthy living is an important area of concern. However, the findings also highlight the importance of providing a framework that enables people to be successful.

"There is no question that just about everyone believes they can take better care of themselves and every day we hear information about the multitude of ways to make that happen," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, physician, chief medical advisor of LIVESTRONG.COM and chief medical correspondent at CNN. "Today's survey proves this, but also shows us that there is a clear need for resources and tools to help them to take an active role on their overall health and well-being. The key to successfully making changes is increased awareness and constant maintenance, which means setting goals for yourself and committing to them on a daily basis."

The survey found 81% of U.S. adults indicated that there are specific factors that prevent/would prevent them from making the needed changes to benefit their overall health.

Leading Factors that stand in the way of Successful Changes to Improve Health

Based on LIVESTRONG.COM's survey findings, the top three roadblocks cited in the survey were, lack of motivation, lack of money and lack of time, respectively. Other factors that prevented people from making changes included: lack of tools/resources, lack of support and lack of knowledge/information. Additionally, women (91%) more so than men (82%) think about think about making changes, yet females are more impacted by the top roadblocks than males. Also, adults with higher income and education levels are more likely to indicate "lack of time" as a factor, while those with lower income levels are more likely to cite a "lacks of tools/resources" as a key barrier to making lifestyle-related changes.

"It's all about consistency. We all know that thinking about making a change is different from actually going out and doing something about it. Whether someone is thinking about losing weight, eating healthy, running a marathon or just incorporating regular exercise in their day-to-day life, it takes commitment and daily determination to successfully effect positive change," said Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) founder and chairman, LIVESTRONG.COM advisory board chairman Lance Armstrong.

LIVESTRONG.COM launched today with 15,000 professional articles and videos, more than 350,000 nutritional food profiles and 50,000 health and fitness-related questions and answers. The new online destination is designed to inspire people to change their lives, help themselves and help others by offering online tools and relevant content from both experts and the community. The company's goal is to encourage individuals to have a daily conversation about their health, fitness and lifestyle by providing information support and its healthy-minded community.

LIVESTRONG.COM commissioned a study to delve deeper into Americans' attitudes about health and to determine how concerned they are about specific health factors (e.g. weight, appearance, etc.) and how successful they are at making lifestyle related changes.

To view highlights of the LIVESTRONG.COM survey, visit: www.livestrong.com/survey.

Methodology
Harris Interactive® fielded the study on behalf of Livestrong.com from April 10-14, 2008, via its QuickQuery^SM online omnibus service, interviewing 2,511 U.S. adults (ages 18 and over). Data were weighted to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.

About LIVESTRONG.COM
The LIVESTRONG brand has become a global movement dedicated to changing the world through living well. Created by Demand Media^TM, in alliance with The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), LIVESTRONG.COM is the definitive online social conversation for health, fitness and lifestyle. Through trusted content, interactive tools and an engaged community, LIVESTRONG.COM is designed to inspire people to change their lives, help themselves and help others. For additional information about LIVESTRONG.COM, please visit: www.livestrong.com.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit: www.harrisinteractive.com.

LIVESTRONG is a registered trademark of the Lance Armstrong Foundation in the United States and other countries.

CNN is not affiliated with nor does it endorse Demand Media or the LIVESTRONG.COM website.

© 2008 Demand Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Demand Media is a trademark of Demand Media, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.