Christopher Croley, MS-CPT
Twitter: CCroleyFitness
Obesity is a world wide epidemic. Not only is obesity effecting our health, its also effecting our wallets. Obesity is driving up the United States' health care costs. The obesity epidemic had a big role in the new health are policies that may take effect after the upcoming election. Not only is obesity causing us to be a "sick" nation, its also hurting the economy and adding to the United States deficit. Obesity contributes to the following health issues: Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, gallbladder disease, breast, endometrial and colon caner, and osteoarthritis. (PubMed)
Companies are realizing that obesity is effecting their bottom line. Corporare health and wellness programs are being created all over the country. The purpose of these program very but most focus on reducing health care costs and improving employee productivity. In a study conducted by the University of Virginia Health Systems, a dollar amount was calculated to articulate how much obesity is hurting the economy. In 1995, the total cost attributed to obesity was $99.2 billion dollars. As obesity rates have risen since 1995, one can only imagine the dollar amount obesity is costing today. In regards to productivity, obesity has reflected $3.9 billion dollars in lost productivity which includes 39.2 million work days lost. (PubMed)
A scary picture: 60% of the United States is obese. Childhood obesity is currently at an all time high in the United States. Fast forward 50 years when our children are adults and imagine if the obesity rate continues to climb upwards to 80%-90%. Not only would the United States be close to bankrupsy, we possibly could have an obese milatary which wouldn't be able to protect our country. Obesity needs to start a downward trend of reduction. Similar to the voting system, we can combat obesity one individual at a time. Everyone's health counts for the greater good of the United States.
In today's society, individuals often times neglect sleep in order to be more productive. Taking naps and getting adequate amounts of sleep now has a lazy conotation to it in today's society. Today, I'm going to discuss the risks of not getting enough sleep. By the end of this article, one will notice how counterproductive not getting enough sleep is.
First, without the proper amounts of sleep, the brain and the body can not function properly. The CDC reported that insufficient sleep is associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Further more, insuficient sleep is now one of the top triggers for weight gain and obesity. Other deprived sleep related issues include difficulty driving, difficulty concentrating on things, difficulty remembering things, difficulty working on hobbies, difficulty with financial affairs, and difficulty performing employed or vollunteer work. Physically, individuals who do not get enough sleep will expirience fatigue, pain, depression, weight gain, heart disease, and death.
Adults typically need 7-9 hours of sleep to aviod the counterproductive behaviors which a lack of sleep produces.
New research has shown that sitting down for long periods of time can cause premature death. Medicaldaily.com has reported that those individuals who sit for more than 11 hours daily have a 40% higher chance of premaure death. In addition, businessinsider.com has reported a 15% morbidity increase over for years for those same individuals. Prolonged sitting is linked to ALL causes of morbidity and also negates the positive health benefits of daily exercise. To eleviate the dangerous effects of prolonged sitting, get out of the chair every couple of hours or possibly invest in an standing station and split the day standing and sitting.
There is a correlation between inactivity and morbidity. For further advice on this topic and/or for healthy options to combat prolonged sitting, feel free to contact me!
Today, I'm goin to discuss the negative health impact of smoking (tobacco). Research has shown that smoking is detrimental to health and is the cause of a number of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Individuals who smoke have up to a 4x's higher risk for coronary heart disease and stroke.
In addition, individuals who smoke also are in a 23 times higher risk of developing lung cancer than individuals who do not smoke. Other health effects from smoking include infertility, stillbirth, low birth weight, and SIDs.
Lastly, I would like everyone to follow the link that will be at the end of this post. The link will take you to a website which lists all 599 ingredients that are in each cigarette. If you happen to smoke, this list may be a wake up call.
http://archive.tobacco.org/Resources/599ingredients.html
