Lifestyles: from the individual to the context

Lifestyles have been studied by different disciplines such associology, anthropology, and epidemiology. Both the termand the greatest developments in this regard stem from thesocial and cultural sciences, which consider lifestyles as groupbehavior patterns upon which social structure has remarkableinfluence. Epidemiology has used the concepts of lifestyleand health extensively, but with a more restricted meaning,associating it with behaviors that people assume in a rationalway and that can be hazardous for their health. In this paperwe analyze some common traits of recently published studieson lifestyle in regards to the suffering of some diseases. Weconclude that a shift toward contextual considerations can beobserved. Such considerations overcome the strictly individualperspective regarding lifestyles and health. Nevertheless,additional insight from other disciplines, especially from thesocial sciences, is required. Likewise, theoretical frameworkslinking individual decisions to contextual constraints orpossibilities are needed.