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Little
Known Fitness/Health Facts
Watch the image of the boy to the right. You'll see the gradual
change that can occur when proper nutrition and physical activity is
not adopted as part of a lifestyle.
I,
Paul, thought about putting together a page of basic statistics for
youth/adult health and fitness. However, I didn't see the sense in
telling you something that most people already know... mainly that
people are moving less and weighing more. So, I decided to put
together a page of fitness and health facts that are not often known by people.
I've collected this information from various sources.
 If
you're interested in learning how overweight your state is in
comparison to other states throughout the United States of America,
click here for the 2008
state obesity rankings.
Forward
movement, such as walking or running, is actually the process of
losing and catching one's balance.
The
human body has more than 650 muscles.
Muscles
are made up of muscle fibers. Each fiber is thinner than a human
hair and can support up to 1,000 times its weight.
For
every 1 pound of muscle you gain, your body burns an extra 50
calories per day. If your burn off 5 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds
of muscle instead, you'd burn an extra 250 calories each day!
If
you are 25 pounds overweight, you have nearly 5,000 extra miles of
blood vessels through which your heart must pump blood.
Your
heart rests between each beat. Over a normal lifespan, your heart
stands still for about 20 years.
Your
blood rushes through your arteries with enough pressure to lift a
column of blood 5 feet into the air.
There
are 1,440 minutes in every day. Certainly you can schedule 30 of
them for physical activity!
According
to studies done on shopping carts, more than 60% of them are
carrying coliform bacteria. Shopping carts have more bacteria than
found on the surfaces of escalators, public phones and public
bathrooms.
Americans
drink three times more carbonated soft drinks than milk, compared to
the 1970's when milk consumption was twice that of pop.
Americans
are consuming about 300 more calories per day than 20 years ago.
Exercise
increases energy levels and increases serotonin in the brain, which
leads to improved mental clarity. Get fit and get smart!
Exercise
can slow or help prevent heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure,
high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis (bone
loss), and loss of muscle mass.
The
average child gets less than 15 minutes of vigorous activity a day.
The
average American child spends 20% of his/her waking time watching
TV.
The
average child consumes at least 20 ounces of soda pop a day.
9
out of 10 parents think their kids are fit, when only 1 out of 3
actually are.
In
a typical P.E. class, only 27% of the time is devoted to motor
activity.
36%
of middle school students say they think kids who exercise do better
in school; about 33% are not sure, and 28% disagree.
54%
of students claim that their P.E. class is very important to them.
About
50% of all students report that P.E. class time should be increased
in the middle school.
By
the time they reach high school, 63% of children are no longer
physically active.
Roughly
40% of U.S. school districts either have eliminated recess or are
considering eliminating it.
An
estimated 22% of American children under age 18 are exposed to
second-hand smoke in the home. It is estimated that 2,000 American
young people become smokers every day.
The
U.S. population is about 300 million people. Of that number 58
million are overweight; 40 million are obese; and, 3 Million are
morbidly obese.
78%
of Americans are not meeting basic activity level recommendations.
According
to the U.S. Surgeon General report obesity is responsible for
300,000 deaths every year.
A
moderate level of physical activity, such as walking 30 minutes a
day, can lengthen life by 1.3 years. What would you do with an extra
15½ months?
Below
is a ranking of overall adult obesity rates for the 50 U.S. states.
In the past year every state has seen an
increase in obesity. The
list below is in order from the state with the highest obesity rate for
2008 (Mississippi) to the state the with lowest obesity rate
(Colorado). Remember, adult weight statistics tend to reveal
those states where children are at risk for the greatest weight
gain. In the past year, 17 states (highlighted in the chart
below in
orange) moved
UP the heavy scale. Look
to see where your state is ranked.
|
2008 State
Weight - Ranked Heaviest to Leanest |
2007
Rank |
2008
Rank |
STATE |
% Obesity
Change |
Ranking
Change |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
Mississippi
(heaviest
state) |
+1.0 |
0 |
|
2 |
2 |
West Virginia |
+0.9 |
0 |
|
3 |
3 |
Alabama |
+0.7 |
0 |
|
4 |
4 |
Louisiana |
+1.3 |
0 |
|
5 |
5 |
South
Carolina |
+1.3 |
0 |
|
6 |
6 |
Tennessee |
+1.2 |
0 |
|
7 |
7 |
Kentucky |
+1.0 |
0 |
|
9 |
8 |
Oklahoma
(tie with Arkansas) |
+1.3 |
+1 |
|
8 |
Arkansas
(tie with Oklahoma) |
+1.1 |
0 |
|
9 |
10 |
Michigan |
+0.9 |
-1 |
|
9 |
11 |
Indiana |
+0.6 |
-2 |
|
14 |
12 |
Georgia
(tie with Missouri) |
+1.3 |
+2 |
|
12 |
Missouri
(tie with Georgia) |
+1.1 |
0 |
|
16 |
14 |
Alaska
(Site of
P.A.C.E. Trek 2009) |
+1.5 |
+2 |
|
12 |
15 |
Texas |
+0.9 |
-3 |
|
17 |
16 |
North Carolina |
+1.5 |
+1 |
|
15 |
17 |
Ohio |
+0.9 |
-2 |
|
18 |
18 |
Nebraska |
+1.1 |
0 |
|
20 |
19 |
Iowa |
+1.4 |
+1 |
|
20 |
20 |
South Dakota |
+1.1 |
0 |
|
19 |
21 |
North Dakota
(tie with Delaware) |
+0.8 |
-2 |
|
29 |
Delaware
(tie with North Dakota) |
+2.4 |
+8 |
|
27 |
23 |
Kansas |
+1.5 |
+4 |
|
23 |
24 |
Pennsylvania |
+1.2 |
-1 |
|
24 |
25 |
Virginia |
+1.1 |
-1 |
|
22 |
26 |
Wisconsin |
+0.7 |
-4 |
|
24 |
27 |
Illinois |
+0.9 |
-3 |
|
24 |
28 |
Maryland |
+0.8 |
-4 |
|
30 |
29 |
Oregon |
+1.7 |
+1 |
|
28 |
30 |
Minnesota |
+1.1 |
-2 |
|
32 |
31 |
Idaho |
+1.4 |
+1 |
|
31 |
32 |
Washington |
+1.2 |
-1 |
|
35 |
33 |
Wyoming |
+1.2 |
+2 |
|
32 |
34 |
Maine |
+0.6 |
-2 |
|
37 |
35 |
Nevada |
+1.2 |
+2 |
|
37 |
36 |
New York
(tie with New Hampshire) |
+1.1 |
+1 |
|
37 |
New
Hampshire
(tie with New York) |
+1.2 |
+1 |
|
34 |
38 |
Florida
(tie with Arizona) |
+0.4 |
-4 |
|
43 |
Arizona
(tie with Florida) |
+1.5 |
+5 |
|
42 |
40 |
New Mexico |
+1.2 |
+2 |
|
36 |
41 |
California |
+0.4 |
-5 |
|
40 |
42 |
New Jersey |
+0.7 |
-2 |
|
40 |
43 |
District of
Columbia
(not a state) |
─
0.1 |
-3 |
|
44 |
44 |
Utah |
+0.7 |
0 |
|
45 |
45 |
Montana
(Site of
P.A.C.E. Trek 2008) |
+1.0 |
0 |
|
46 |
46 |
Rhode Island |
+0.9 |
0 |
|
48 |
47 |
Vermont |
+1.1 |
+1 |
|
49 |
48 |
Massachusetts |
+1.1 |
+1 |
|
47 |
49 |
Connecticut |
+0.7 |
-2 |
|
-- |
50 |
Hawaii* |
-- |
-- |
|
50 |
51 |
Colorado
(leanest state) |
+0.8 |
-1 |
|
|
|
*Rankings
computed by CalorieLab based on state-by-state statistics for adult obesity
percentages from the Centers of Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System database. Obesity is defined as a
Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30.0 or over, overweight as a
BMI of 25.0 to 29.9. BMI data was not collected in
Hawaii, so an obesity average could not be computed for
the 2007 rankings. |
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