Here’s an unlikely effect of recession: It may actually be helping some Americans improve their health.

The majority of middle-class Americans say they are healthier because of frugal behaviors during the last year, including cooking at home or spending less on junk food, according to the results of a survey that the financial planning firm First Command Financial Services plans to release this week.

Nearly half of those responding to the survey said their frugal behaviors were making them healthier, while another 45 percent said at least a portion of their frugal behaviors were making them healthier.

“These survey results reveal an important connection between personal finance and health,” Scott Spiker, chief executive of First Command Financial Services, said in a statement.

So what are some examples of the frugal behaviors respondents are engaging in?

According to the results, 45 percent of respondents said they have cut back in the last year by cooking at home more often; 30 percent said they were spending less on junk food; 13 percent said they have reduced driving costs by walking or riding a bicycle to work; 10 percent said they have reduced spending on alcohol; and 7 percent said they were growing their own food.

In contrast, just 2 percent said they had canceled or postponed the purchase of home exercise equipment, 3 percent said they had quit smoking and 6 percent said they had reduced spending on medicine, prescriptions, vitamins and dietary supplements.

The survey data was collected in April as part of First Command’s monthly online survey of about 1,000 consumers in the United States age 25 to 70 with annual household incomes of at least $50,000. The monthly results are compiled by the market research firm Sentient Decision Science, and April was the first month the survey, called the Financial Behaviors Index, asked about the health effects of frugal behaviors.

Still, some respondents — 6 percent — said their frugal behaviors were making them less healthy.

Do you agree with the survey results? Why or why not? What effect are your frugal behaviors having on your health?