As summer fades and the kids go back in school, this time of year often also sees a spike in the prevalence of common ailments. Some of us are more unfortunate than others in this respect and find ourselves are struck down several or more times a year.
According to Kantar Media’s TGI study of consumer behaviour, 13% of adults (just under half a million) in the Republic of Ireland claim to have suffered with colds or flu in the past year (the same proportion as in Britain).
They are particularly likely to be aged at the younger end of the age spectrum. 15-24 year olds are over twice as likely as the average adult to say they frequently suffer from these ailments, whilst those aged 65+ are 25% less likely than the average to do so.
Over two-thirds of these frequent sufferers have taken remedies for their colds/flu three times or more in the past year, making them over five times more likely to have done so than the average adult who has had a cold or flu.
Frequent cold and flu sufferers are more likely to suffer a lot from a range of other common complaints. For example, they are 40% more likely to have suffered with muscle joint pain three or more times in the past year and 35% more likely to have had indigestion three or more times. They are also over twice as likely to have had nausea in the past year, 81% more likely to have had migraines and 25% more likely to have had a bad back.
There is often acknowledgement amongst these cold/flu sufferers that their health could be better if they lived their lives differently. 43% of them agree that because of their busy lifestyle they don’t take care of themselves as well as they should, compared to 36% of adults generally.
When it comes to reaching these frequent cold/flu sufferers efficiently, it is instructive to note that they are 37% more likely than the average adult to say they tend to buy products from companies who sponsor exhibitions or music events and 32% more likely to say whilst watching TV they search on the internet for products they see advertised. TGI data also reveals they are 27% more likely to be amongst the heaviest fifth of consumers of internet by frequency of use and 23% more likely to be amongst the heaviest fifth of consumers of TV.
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