Physical Activity Could Change these Statistics

HealthDay News released an article recently with some eye-opening information about obesity rates in the United States.

·         Number of obese people in the United States will increase from 99 million in 2008 to 164 million by 2030.

·         The obesity rate will rise from 32 percent to about 50 percent for men, and from 26 percent to between 35 percent and 43 percent for women.

·         The cost of treating obesity-related diseases would increase $66 billion per year by 2030.

Small and easy changes can be made to keep the U.S. from reaching those numbers. Physical activity does not have to include going to the gym for an hour every day. Physical activity could be taking the stairs, parking in the back of the lot, walking the dog for an extra ten minutes, or even cleaning the house from top to bottom. Goals can be small, such as setting aside a few minutes of your lunch at work to take a lap around the building. Use these statistics as motivation to add some activity to your day. The information also states that, “a 1 percent population-wide decrease in body-mass index (just 1.9 pounds for an average 198-pound adult) would prevent more than 2 million cases of diabetes, roughly 1.5 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 73,000 to 127,000 cancer cases in the U.S..” Just a few extra minutes a day can have an impact on those statistics.