Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9 944 sociodemographic and health-related factors. BMI and smoking did not reach significance while exercise and physical activity exhibited significant correlations but not consistently across SRH categories. Our results support previous findings indicating that people following a more proactive lifestyle pattern tend to rate their health better. The role of stress-related neuroendocrinologic mechanisms on SRH and health in general is also discussed. Keywords: self-rated health; determinants; lifestyle; sleep; religiosity; cross-sectional 1. Introduction Self–rated health (SRH) is a health measure based upon a simple question asking individuals to rate their general health in a four or five-point scale. It is considered an inclusive measure of health, meaning that SRH yields information inaccessible by targeted health measurements, something that has increased its popularity in population-based and clinical studies [1]. As such, according to large population-based studies, SRH is a powerful predictor of future health and utilization of health care services [2–4]. Moreover, in clinical studies poor SRH has been associated with negative clinical outcomes such as higher mortality and worse patients’ quality of life [1]. As far as general practice is concerned, SRH is proposed as a screening tool for general health assessment, with negative ratings warranting further investigation by practitioners [1]. In support of that, negative health ratings seem to represent pathogenetic biological processes in the body that compromise health status and may herald future health adversities (“interoception hypothesis”) (for a review of SRH see [1]). Identifying SRH determinants in different populations (e.g., different countries, rural or urban, etc.) has several public health benefits. Firstly, cultural and other population characteristics would be more potently addressed by public health policy making, especially as far as the type (rural or urban) of society is concerned. Secondly, deconstructing SRH into its main components enables more targeted interventions and public health policies for a given population. Literature reveals several sociodemographic, disease-related, lifestyle and psychosocial determinants of SRH in different populations. In general, women, individuals with low socioeconomic status and older people tend to rate their health worse, although ambiguity still exists especially for gender [5–7]. Moreover, disease-related factors (such as the presence of diseases and physical symptoms, medication usage, hospitalization and utilization of health care services) constitute the principal SRH determinants, with increasing ability to explain SRH variance with ageing [5,8]. Results on lifestyle factors largely vary across studies and populations, but they converge to a common pattern of better health ratings by individuals who adopt a more proactive lifestyle behavior [9–12]. In the case of Greece, there are limited and parsimonious studies on the determinants of SRH [12–17]. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to extend Greek literature by investigating SRH determinants in a rural population. Particular emphasis on lifestyle such as exercise, diet, sleep and religiosity is given.