Don't Be A Statistic ? Sharecare.com Blog

There are 190 million Americans in the USA that are overweight or obese! Health care expenditures in the USA are $2.2 Trillion dollars (16% of our Gross Domestic Product). ?This represents that cost of $7,000/person. ?Health spending is expected to reach $4.2 Trillion by 2017, or approximiately $13,100/person (National Health Expenditure ? CMMS).

Here are a few examples:

1. Heart disease is the number 1 killer of men and women. ?81 Million Americans have 1 or more cardiovascular diseases and it costs $488 Billion/year (adopting a healthy lifestyle can cut the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 90% ? Rothenbacher: ?Heart, 2006)

2. 24 Million Americans have diabetes (~ 95% are type 2 ? adult onset) and and additional 57 million are pre-diabetic, costing $175B/year. ?Diet and exercise can prevent over 90% of the cases of type 2 diabetes (American Diabetes Association)

3. Back pain affects 8-10 americans at some point costing $50 billion/year (Pai ? Orthop Clin North Am, 2004). ?Other muscle and joint pain costs $685 billion/year with arthritis affecting 46 million americans. ?Being overweight significantly increases the risk of osteoarthritis. ?Losing > 10 pounds can decrease the risk of knee osteoarthritis by more than 50% ( Felson ? Annals of Internal Medicine, 1992)

What does this mean to you:

1. In 2005, an individual with one chronic condition paid $685 out of pocket

2. In 2007, out of pocket spending soared to $889

3. In 2009, out of pocket spending climbed to $2500/household

4. It is projected by 2014 that household out of pocket health care spending will have escalated to over $3,300/household!

The good news in all of this:

1. You can reduce your risk of developing any of the top chronic diseases (heart, cancer, diabetes, pain) by up to 90% and decrease your overall costs of health care by up to 75% by implementing regular healthy living habits.

Top healthy living habits:

1. Regular physical activity (30 minutes/day + 10,000 steps/day)

2. Clean, healthy nutrition (fruits, vegatables, lean protein, whole grains)

3. Sleep ? 8 hours/night

4. Positive mindset ? (control stress, set goals, connect, learn)

5. Stay hydrated ? drink 8/8 oz glasses of water/day

6. Control your vices ? (dont smoke, 2 alcohol drinks/day, decrease/eliminate environmental pollution)

7. See your doctor regularly

8. Join Sharecare Fitness and get a free personalized fitness plan (exercise, nutrition, education, and support)

9. Commit to living the life you deserve (yes, you have to put in some effort?..dont you deserve it? ?Dont your loved ones deserve your best?)

Live healthy,

Mike

File under: Expert Spotlight

Contributor

Mike Clark

Named the ?Health and Fitness Visionary of the Year? by Men?s Health magazine, Dr. Mike Clark is the chief science officer for Sharecare and chief executive officer of the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).

View my Sharecare profile

Source: http://blog.sharecare.com/2012/03/04/dont-be-a-statistic/

das racist das racist ginger white conrad murray sentencing conrad murray sentencing urban meyer adam shulman