Running with Moe

It is that time of year when many people start thinking about making their New Year’s Resolutions for 2019.  For most people it is primarily a fun thing to do with no real thought that they will ever follow through with them.   A few people take the resolution they made very serious and make a change in their lives by completing it.  

Reports on the subject of New Year’s Resolutions state that the majority of resolutions are for losing weight and diet changes and starting a fitness program for better health. These are all good resolutions when you take into account some of the reports in the media this last month.  It seems that the BMI of the population is moving from the majority of our country going from being overweight to obese. The last statistic I read had 67% of the populations being overweight (33%) and obese (34%).  Now it seems that the percentage of obese people will be even higher.  The BMI is a standard used to determine how overweight you are by comparing your weight to your height.  One column has the scale for height and across from it is a column for weight. In the middle column are a series of numbers that determine your BMI.  You pick out your height and your weight and draw a line connecting the two. Where the line intersects the BMI number in the middle is your number.  If the number is above 25 you are approaching overweight and if it gets to 30 you are considered obese.

The BMI works for the average person and is used in a number of screenings on fitness. The BMI does not work as well on athletes like weight lifters and bodybuilders.  The may have a high body weight with a very low body fat composition and have a high BMI score, but are actually on the low-fat side. One easy method for a do it at home determination is the old standby” pinch an inch” method.  Take the skin fold between a thumb and finger around your stomach and if the amount of thickness of skin is over an inch you are in the overweight category.  When you reach the two inch and above thickness consider yourself obese.  

One other report out is the change in life span of the younger generation.  For years the average life span of people has been increasing.  Women usually live longer than men in these reports.  An age of 76 years is good for men and 81 for women.  What the reports are mentioning recently is that this generation will not live as long as their parents.  It basically states that if the mother lives until an age of 78 years her daughter may only live to 72 years or so.  For men and their sons the age of the son may not make it to 70 years.  

One other health factor in research is the ratio of people having diabetes will increase to almost two people out of every three will have diabetes in the future.  That is a scary number considering all the health risks associated with diabetes.  High blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and amputations are only a few of the possible problems that may occur from diabetes.  And talking with local medical doctors it seems that children as young as junior high school age are showing signs of diabetes.  It used to be called “adult onset diabetes” and may be a problem after the age of 40 years.  Now you are seeing the early signs of diabetes in teenagers.  One statistic that has been reported is that if a person contacts diabetes before the age of 15 years the lifespan of that person will be 15 years less.  You subtract 15 years from an average of 72 years and that drops the lifespan of that person to around 57 years.  That is another scary statistic for the health of our population.

When you add the dangers of smoking and excessive alcohol consumption to any of the above mentioned problems things look even worse.  This year the lack of exercise was listed as important as smoking as far as health benefits. When you add obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol use, lack of exercise, and diabetes to the mix on one-person things do not look good.  That is when the lifespan of your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents hopefully kicks in to help you out.  But, abusing the good genetics of your parents can only go so far if you pursue an unhealthy lifestyle. 

The point being made is that you might want to take that healthy New Year’s Resolution a little more seriously if you fit any of the problems mentioned above.  It pays to be pro-active with health and not wait until you have that first heart attack, or contact diabetes, or have high blood pressure, because by then it might be a little too late to help.  The nice thing about having a New Year is that it can be used as a reason to start over with any changes to make 2019 better than 2018. So, make your resolution again, but this year try to make it through the entire year and hopefully make some necessary changes in your health and fitness.