I found this on msn.com and it really interested me.
"This annual ranking, published by the United Health Foundation, looks at 22 indicators of health, including everything from how many children receive recommended vaccinations, to obesity and smoking rates, to cancer deaths. (Insurer UnitedHealth Group funds the foundation.) Scores for each state are determined by gathering data from a variety of government and nongovernmental databases and then calculating how much each state is better or worse than the national average for each measure."
The top 5 healthiest states are
1. Vermont
2. Utah
3. Massachusetts
4. Hawaii
5. New Hampshire
I noticed that there was no west coast states on the top 10 list either. California is the twenty-third healthiest states in America out of 50.
The 5 most unhealthy states were
46. South Carolina
47. Louisiana
48. Alambama
49. Oklahoma
50. Mississippi
These all are in the south which made me think about how much of an impact that location has on people's health.
But i have to wonder why the west coast is so low on the list?
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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8 comments:
I saw a list similiar to this a few years ago and California and the majority of west coast states were relatively low even then. New England states have consistently been ranked as "healthier" than the west coast states and I have to wonder if part of that is because they aren't nearly has big or as populous as the west. This is just my opinion, but in general our metropolitan area is much healthier (perhaps even a little too obsessed with being thin) than the more rural areas in California and sometimes we forget how vast our state is in size and in populations of people
I've noticed that the South is consistently on the bottom of the lists in health, education, etc. (please correct me if I'm wrong) It seems that the region is always one step behind the country...and it's just a vicious cycle. The South contains some of the "fattest" states, meaning the highest obesity rates in the country. The more prevalent obesity is, the more likely it is for a child to think that it's "normal" or "okay."
Here's some interesting stats provided by the CDC. If you scroll down, there's a little video of the country's obesity rates over the years by state. Scary how most of the south is in the orange or eek! red shade (25-30% obesity)
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
What could be done?
-Katie Jensen
I went to New Orleans last summer and I could definitely see that the Louisiana was a "fat" state. It was kind of crazy! On top of being a step behind the nation on everything,I think climate and urbanization has a lot to do with how "healthy" a state was. First of all, I think 90% of the meals consisted of deep fried food. And because the heat and humidity is so unbearable in the South, many would rather refrain from and physical exercise.
sorry for some of those typos in my last post...
I agree with Mei Mei. I mean, there are fried twinkies in the South. With food like that and the much more humid weather, less people are inclined to go jogging down the street a few times a week.
-Annie Yang
I think that it (well, unhealthiest) really correlates with poverty. In the South, poverty is the greatest, and as we learned in Super Size Me, unhealthy, manufactured foods are generally the cheapest. Also, the availability of unhealthy foods is much greater than that of organic foods or stuff from like farmers market.
Also, I think Sally makes a great point about the vastness of our state. The top five states are really small, so I guess maybe it's easier to distribute vaccinations and stuff in smaller states. And also, along with Mei Mei's point, it's a lot hotter in like Central California, so perhaps there the same lack of inclination to exercise.
I agree. Probably due to the food over there and the weather, people may live their lives depending on these conditions that surround them. As a result, they refrain from anything that requires so much energy to do.
That is very interesting. What really caught my attention was that health may be directly related to where you live in the nation. It's suprising to find that California is in the middle. TO me, CA always seemed pretty health, but may be I'm wrong.
I guess some states have different health care and different priorities. THis could be a reason. Some states have different policies on foods and smoking and medicine.
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