Re: Few U.S. Adults Lead Healthy Lives


"outrider" <outrider@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1114476921.027670.206620@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jeff wrote:
> I have a feeling that leading a healthier life would do more to help
live
> longer and enjoy life more than most medicine.
>
> In a previous thread, we talked about how midlife changes don't
affect how
> long people live. I suspect that the reason is that people are not
very
> successful at making them.
>
> Jeff

Of course it would Jeff. Did you have a look at the study about
Biosphere II which I posted: three hours of *exercise* daily, eating
almost vegetarian, and eating relatively little. But as soon as the
study was over and the subjects didn't live in the Biosphere anymore,
life returned to normal; even for those one would assume were
motivated. And here on sci.med.cardiology, the discussion centres
around medications rather than less risky lifestyle modifications.



http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/89/23/11533.pdf


Zee

And Jeff responds:

While I agree that the Biosphere participants were movitivated, their
motiviation was not there own health.

However, your point about motivation being an issue is well taken.

Jeff






>
>
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=8287343
>
> Few U.S. Adults Lead Healthy Lives
>
> By Alison McCook
> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A paltry number of Americans follow four
basic
> rules of health living -- don't smoke, eat well, exercise regularly,
and
> maintain a healthy weight, according to new study findings released
Monday.
>
> After surveying more than 150,000 adults, Michigan researchers found
that
> only three percent said they maintained these healthy habits.
>
> Lead author Dr. Mathew J. Reeves of Michigan State University in East

> Lansing told Reuters Health he expected that a minority of adults
would keep
> up all habits, "but three percent was really quite surprising."
>
> He explained that there are probably a number of reasons why the vast

> majority of Americans don't follow their doctors' orders. People are
busy,
> live in environments more conducive to driving everywhere than
walking or
> biking, and may lack information about the dangers of unhealthy
habits,
> Reeves suggested.
>
> But likely the biggest reason is the "current cultural norm" to live
> unhealthy lives, he said. "If most people around you are overweight,
and
> don't exercise and eat mostly fast food, then it's very hard to see
the need
> to change the way you are living," Reeves noted.
>
> To investigate how healthy Americans are, Reeves and his co-author
Dr. Ann
> P. Rafferty reviewed data collected from 153,000 adults as part of a
> telephone survey.
>
> The researchers noted how many people didn't smoke, ate at least five
fruits
> and vegetables every day, exercised for at least 30 minutes five or
more
> times per week, and had a healthy body mass index (BMI), defined as
weight
> in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. A healthy BMI
is
> between 18.5 and 25.
>
> Among the surveyed adults, 76 percent didn't smoke and 40 percent had

> maintained a healthy weight.
>
> However, less than one quarter ate at least five fruits and
vegetables
> daily, or exercised on a regular basis.
>
> Altogether, only three percent of surveyed adults maintained all four
of
> these healthy habits, the authors report in the Archives of Internal
> Medicine.
>
> Reeves said that research shows being healthy can add years to your
life,
> slash medical expenses, cut your risk of heart disease, and generally

> improve your quality of life.
>
> "It really does matter that so many people are not taking the most
basic
> steps to leading a healthy lifestyle," he said. "We should be aware
of what
> we are giving up."
>
> SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, April 25, 2005.
>
> © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Forgotten Treasures #14: Speckled Trout--PART 3
    ... all leading another life, plying another trade from that they chose....For ... it seems Thurber stole Mitty from Stevenson. ... believe to be a "healthy" expression of simple desires) to the secret lives ...
    (rec.outdoors.fishing.fly)
  • Re: IP
    ... I've always been healthy as a healthy human can be. ... Not really sure why I'm in with Leavitt, ... I'm going to dig down and play my blues away. ... We're lucky to have music in our lives and I'm lucky to have such a strong compulsion to physically exercise. ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: losing LAD artery
    ... i have only had God throughtout my life ... as to just how precious our own lives are ... and live a healthy life ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: Few U.S. Adults Lead Healthy Lives
    ... > longer and enjoy life more than most medicine. ... > Few U.S. Adults Lead Healthy Lives ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: More Food Scaremongering
    ... that's interesting I think because I'm not sure the diet they had through their lives would be regarded today as being very healthy at all. ... In their day, it was considered very healthy and nutritious to eat as much meat as possible, eat lots of butter, drink full fat milk, which was even given free every day to schoolchildren who were made to drink it, and consume vast quantities of National Health Orange Juice that rotted teeth almost as quickly as battery acid. ... As regards health care, even doctors extolled the undoubted benefits of smoking, and a visit to the doctor before the NHS was introduced was an expensive business that most could not afford. ...
    (uk.media.tv.misc)