Background/aim Many studies related to health include such parameters as physical activity, diet, BMI and substances consumption. The purpose of this article was to check the magnitude of their effects on health together with other parameters as age, sex and level of education.

Methods Design The study was based on epidemiological data (9617 participants from 19 to 81 y.o. for whom we have health indicators over a period of 11 years) together with questionnaires about diet, alcohol, tobacco and the frequency of different types of physical activities together with socio-demographical parameters. Methods Descriptive statistics and non-parametric correlational analysis of epidemiological data was performed with use of SPSS v.19.

Results The magnitude of association of factors with days of hospitalisation were the following ones (from greater to lesser):

1. physical activity type 3 (gardening);

2. sport activity type 1 (aerobic, swimming, running);

3. level of studies;

4. age;

5. BMI;

6. menu variability;

7. smoking;

8. weight maintenance;

9. alcohol consumption;

10. sport activity type 2 (Pilates, yoga) and

11. limitation of fats consumption (1–9 were statistically significant at p

Conclusion Our findings confirm that leading a healthy life style is an important issue since it has a significant relationship with physical and mental health indicators. Moreover, our results show different associations by ranking the studied factors with different health indicators (number of days spent in hospital, visits of doctors and psychiatrists, drug consumption, etc.).