(Un)healthy States of America

By Quinn Phillips As we've discussed in the past here at Diabetes Flashpoints, the United States is, by many measures, the unhealthiest country in the developed world. Some, but certainly not all, of the blame for America's higher rate of health problems can be attributed to the high rate of obesity in the United States: 33% of Americans are obese, compared with 27% of Britons and Australians, 22% of Belgians and Norwegians, and 18% of Danes and Swiss (and only 5% of Japanese). As we noted in a piece a few years back called "Southern Girth," obesity is not uniformly distributed across the United States. Now, a new survey sheds light on some behavioral differences among the states that may help explain differences in outcomes. Released earlier this month, the survey by Gallup revealed that overall, Americans exercised less in 2013 than they had in 2012, perhaps due to that year's colder, wetter weather. Vermont was ranked highest in the category of exercise, with 65.3% of adults reporting exercising for at least 30 minutes three or more times a week. Hawaii (62.2%), Montana (60.1%), Alaska (60.1%), and Colorado (59.8%) rounded out the top five, while Delaware (46.5%), West Virginia (47.1%), Alabama (47.5%), New Jersey (47.7%), and Rhode Island (48.2%) had the lowest numbers of adults who exercised. Vermont and Alaska have traded the top spot in recent years' surveys, while four states — Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, and Alabama — consistently rank in the bottom 10 eve...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs