Are you responsible?

A little secret

When it comes to our health we do some things that aren’t really helping. This is the next instalment in the list of The Top 12 Worst Things We are Doing to Our Health.

One of the things that struck me about the discussion on the 12 Worst Things from the conference I attended was that this is a topic that is not openly discussed at health and fitness conferences. You may think that these are the types of things that should be discussed, but they are not. The usual topics include the benefits of various types of exercise, the latest research, ways to motivate people, but never, ever, do we discuss what we think is going wrong outside the narrow boundaries of our world.

People in health and fitness talk about these things like they are a family secret. Maybe this is part of the problem. Openly discussing the challenges makes them easier to tackle.

The list is in no particular order. They may or may not be affecting your health, but I bet you know someone who is doing at least one of these things.

# 11 on the list, not taking responsibility for your own actions.

I know I have heard something like this before. “I would exercise, but…(insert reason here)” Apparently there are many people who feel this way when you look at the data.

75% of American adults between the ages of 18 – 80, do not meet the modest strength training guidelines of two sessions per week.

20% of American adults meet the guidelines for any type of exercise.

75% of Americans rate being healthy and fit as very important… there is a bit of a disconnect going on here.

Some of the top excuses for not exercising include,

1. I am too busy.

2. I have to look after my kids.

3. I don’t like to exercise alone.

4. I don’t need to lose weight.

5. I’m too old.

In the NY Times last week Jane Brody wrote about “A National Goal: Prevent a Million Heart Attacks and Strokes by 2022″

This is possible.

Possible without new medications, treatments or anything. The only requirement is that individuals change their habits and be personally responsible for looking after themselves.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has begun this effort to stop the increase in cardiovascular deaths in American adults between 35-64 years old.

Dr Matthew Ritchey and his colleagues at the CDC state the following;

• 71 million American adults are inactive, they do NO exercise.
• 40 million have UNCONTROLLED high blood pressure.
• 39 million that have high cholesterol and are NOT trying to reduce their levels.

Another report released this week was America’s Obesity Crisis: The Health and Economic Cost of Excess Weight

The report states that in 2016 there were 100 million obese Americans and 80 million who qualified as overweight and listed the following facts:

The burden of obesity, and the chronic diseases for which it is a contributing factor, has reached record economic heights.

• In 2016, chronic diseases driven by the risk factor of obesity and overweight accounted for $480.7 billion in direct health care costs in the U.S., with an additional $1.24 trillion in indirect costs due to lost economic productivity.
• The total cost of chronic diseases due to obesity and overweight was $1.72 trillion—equivalent to 9.3% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).
• Obesity as a risk factor is by far the greatest contributor to the burden of chronic diseases in the U.S., accounting for 47.1% of the total cost of chronic diseases nationwide.

Prevention is possible

Cardiovascular disease, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar in most cases, can be treated, managed and prevented with lifestyle changes, but do you think you can do it?

How you view the events in your life?

Believing you have the power to change the events in your life makes a big difference to your success. If you think that you have power over the events in your life it means you have a high internal locus of control. The degree to which you believe you have power over the events in your life will determine how much responsibility you take for your actions or inactions. Having a high internal locus of control means that you are more likely to look at your own abilities or actions. If you are more likely to blame an external event you probably have a high external locus of control.

How do you view exercise? Like something, you have control over? Like something, you can learn to do?

Ultimately, regardless of how busy we are, or tell ourselves that we are, everyone has the same amount of time. It is up to you to decide what to do with it. Whether you have to adjust your schedule, get up earlier, join a gym with a daycare, sign up for classes, ride your bike to work, workout at home. There are many ways to add activity to your day.

Willpower is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. Exercise is like willpower, the more you do it, the more you will do it.

Do you think this is really one of the worst things we are doing to our health? I have to admit I was not convinced it should be in the top 12 until I started looking at the numbers. What do you think?

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla