How low we have fallen!
How can you define “good health”? According to Wikipedia, “physical fitness” is defined as “a general state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of sports, occupations and daily activities.” That’s a pretty good way to evaluate how healthy someone is, right?
Well, according to these metrics, Americans fail the “healthy lifestyle evaluation” pretty spectacularly. According to a study out of the University of Mississippi and Oregon State University, less than 3% of American adults live a healthy lifestyle.
The researchers at the two universities mapped out the four most important characteristics of a “healthy” life:
- Good diet — This means not only consuming a healthy number of calories (not too many or too few), but also getting a balance of macro and micronutrients. Easier said than done, in this modern age of processed food.
- Moderate exercise –– On average, a healthy person performs no less than 3 hours of exercise per week. 4 to 6 hours per day is getting closer to proper fitness.
- Recommended body fat — To be “healthy”, a woman in her 20s to 40s needs to have a body fat percentage between 21 and 33%. Men of that same age should have a much lower body fat percentage–between 18 and 25%. Any higher, and they are in the overweight or obese categories.
- Non-smoker — This is in a category all on its own, due to both the popularity of smoking and the staggering amount of damage it can do to your body! It doesn’t just affect your cardiovascular system, but it can play a role in a wide range of health problems.
People who have these four characteristics are considered “healthy”, and they have a much lower risk of cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, and cancer. The standards used to assess overall health are not too stringent, but it turns out we in the U.S. have a hard time reaching even these simple standards!
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Of the 4,745 people studied as part of the research, just 2.7% of them met all four conditions for “good health”. That means that less than 3% of the U.S. population is protected against disease and in decent shape.
Of course, many of the adults had two or more of the characteristics. 71% of those surveyed were non-smokers, while 38% followed a healthy, balanced diet. Almost half were physically active, but only 10% of them had a “normal” body fat percentage.
We should take these findings to heart and take some serious steps to up our game! The U.S. has been falling behind in terms of health for decades now, and the rest of the world knows it. On the list of the “healthiest countries in the world”, the US ranks in 37th place, behind countries like Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and Colombia. If that’s not a wake-up call, then nothing else is!
As the study above proved, to be healthy, you have to combine all FOUR elements of physical health. That means eating right, getting more exercise, losing weight, and avoiding or quitting smoking. Only once you can combine all four factors can you truly consider yourself “healthy”.
Make no mistake: this is much easier said than done! Losing weight and getting in shape is never easy, nor is changing up your diet. It’s an uphill struggle, but it’s one you have to fight if you want to live a longer, healthier life. Make an effort to reach all four characteristics of good health, and you’ll help to bring the U.S. back on top once more!
