The biology of everyday living

Abstract

The need for documenting details of lifestyle is argued, particularly from the results of studying the everyday life of Oxfordshire villagers. Relationships between lifestyle and well-being are sought through examination of characteristics of sleep and stress hormone excretion. It is concluded that although epinephrine and cortisol outputs show many relationships with lifestyle in various populations, they are poor measures of well-being. Sleep latency, however, seems to be a component of well-being. Well-being is seen as an important component of health and thus of the quality-of-life history. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.