Most people pay attention to statistics and facts about stress, obesity and smoking. Here are a few to ponder:
STRESS
75% of Americans have symptoms resulting from stress EVERY month and 73% of those experience psychological symptoms and 77% experience physical symptoms. Half of Americans lie awake at night due to stress and 33% believe they are coping with extreme stress. Half of American’s believe that their stress has increased over the last five years (I wonder why?).
Psychological symptoms of stress include:
- Feeling angry or irritable (over 50%)
- Feeling like crying (35%)
- Feeling no motivation or energy (45%)
- Feeling anxious (45%)
Physical symptoms of stress include:
- Tiredness (51%)
- Tense muscles (30%)
- Headaches (44%)
- Queazy stomach (33%)
- Dizziness (13%)
- Appetite loss or increase (23%)
- Loss of interest in sex (15%)
- Grinding teeth at night (17%)
SMOKING: Everyone should be aware by now that smoking greatly increases your risk of lung, mouth and throat cancers, strokes and heart attacks.
OBESITY: The American Epidemic
These facts are from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website:
About one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese.
Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese.
[Data from the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES)]
Trends by State 1985–2010
During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and rates remain high. In 2010, no state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-six states had a prevalence of 25% or more; 12 of these states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia) had a prevalence of 30% or more.
The animated map below shows the United States obesity prevalence from 1985 through 2010.
| Percent of Obese (BMI > 30) in U.S. Adults |
|---|
<previous next> play stop |