Gallup and Healthways, Inc. released findings from the monthly Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index® (WBI) for July 2011. The WBI composite score remains relatively high at 66.4, just one point lower than the all-time high score of 67.4 from May 2010. The Life Evaluation Index, however, which includes a self-evaluation of whether Americans are “thriving,” “struggling,” or “suffering,” declined to 48.1 in July, a 23-month low and a significant drop from June’s score of 49.9.

Other findings:

- The Life Evaluation Index reported 51.7 percent of Americans thriving and 3.7 percent suffering.

- The Physical Health Index remained consistent at 77.5, with obesity hitting its lowest metric since October 2008 at 25.6 percent.

- The Emotional Health Index was flat at 79.4 for July and consistent with seasonal expectations for this time of the year. In addition, 61.1 percent of Americans stated they were “without stress a lot of the day yesterday.”

- The Healthy Behavior Index shows substantial improvement to 64.6 in July, consistent with seasonal expectations, and a significant increase from December’s low score of 45.9. These numbers were influenced by improvements in the percentage of Americans who:

Exercised 30 minutes or more at least three days in the last week from 53.4 in June to 54.4 in July.

Ate at least five servings of fruits and veggies at least four days in the last week from 55.7 in June to 57.8 in July.

- The Work Environment Index remained low at 47.4 in July, resulting in the sixth consecutive month of lowest recorded scores in the history of the WBI.

- The Basic Access Index remained low at 81.6, close to its lowest point of 81.5 in February 2009 during the economic recession. The percentage of Americans that reported having “enough money to buy food” at all times in the last 12 months decreased to 80.7 percent in July from 81.6 percent in June, only the second time that this metric was under 81 percent since February 2009.