The Unhealthy Majority
Being among the 80% of people who don't make exercise a regular part of their lives is flirting with disaster. The health statistics are staggering.
An inactive lifestyle and poor diet contribute to nearly 300,000 deaths each year in the United States. The sad fact is that 40% of all deaths result from behavior patterns that are lifestyle-related. That means you have a choice!
As of 2003, the government reports that nearly two-thirds of Americans, or 130 million adults, are overweight, with nearly one-third, or 61 million, considered obese. Obesity is defined as an excessively high amount of body fat or adipose tissue in relation to lean body mass. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict that by 2010 obese people will make up 40% of the population.
Living a sedentary lifestyle, one where exercise is not a part of your regular routine, leads to becoming overweight. People who are overweight have a higher risk for getting coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, respiratory problems and some types of cancer. The health risk posed by physical inactivity is almost as high as cigarette smoking. I once heard that if you don't exercise, it's like smoking a pack of cigarettes each day! I believe it, too!
Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States today. It takes the lives of over one million people each year. Every 33 seconds someone dies from heart disease.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, taking the lives of nearly a half million people each year. One in four deaths result from cancer.
Seventeen million people currently have diabetes, with another 16 million in a pre-diabetes state. Each year there are a million new cases of diabetes reported.
All said and done, in 2002, Americans spent an estimated $92.6 billion on medical problems associated with being overweight or obese.
