A study conducted by researchers from Yale University found that adults who had passed their middle age and had developed a severe ailment had made drastic changes in their health behaviour.
Amongst these, some suffered from diabetes or heart diseases and started losing weight or stopped smoking in order to improve their overall physical conditions.
The survey carried out by the Health and Retirement Study, analysed a total of over 20,000 obese or overweight people and over 7,000 smokers under the age of 75.
These adults were assessed twice during a period of eight years. Amongst these, 18 percent of them stopped smoking, 13 percent out of which had developed cancer, lung diseases, heart diseases, and diabetes or had suffered a stroke.
The obese or overweight adults had put on more weight and had developed ailments such as diabetes, lung disease or heart disease.
The research revealed that the smokers who had just been diagnosed a health disorder were more likely to give up smoking than those who had not developed any disease.
The obese or overweight people had reacted in the same way, losing an average of 2 to 3 pounds more than those who had not developed a health problem.
These figures considerably increased when people developed more than one health disorder during the same period.
It was thus concluded that predicament of health problems was effective in persuading people to change their health habits.
