For several years now, Alabama has been ranked as one of the fattest states in the United States, jumping from third place in 2008 to second place in 2009 and tying for second place last year.
But now not only is Alabama one of the fattest states but it’s also one of the laziest states, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that came out last month.
The CDC report said the “states where residents are the least likely to be physically active in their free time are Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee. In those states, physical inactivity rates are 29.2 percent or greater for more than 70 percent of counties.” And where the rates were higher for physical inactivity, the rates were higher for diagnosed obesity and diabetes, the report said.
This comes as no surprise to John Petrella, professor of exercise science and sports medicine at Samford University in Birmingham, who said there is a link between activity and health.
“Many diseases, particularly diseases related to (the) heart, are associated with inactivity,” he said. “You are much more likely to have a heart attack and die from that heart attack if you don’t live an active lifestyle.
“Also years of inactivity can lead to obesity and diabetes,” Petrella continued. “Many of these diseases don’t have any symptoms until it’s too late. You many not feel sick until your health has already deteriorated.
“The good news is that activity and exercise can reduce your risk of all these diseases at the same time. Activity will reduce your risk of heart attack, obesity and diabetes all at once.”
But even if people know the health benefits of adding more activity or exercise to their daily routine, what keeps them from being more active?
Dr. Heath Hale, a primary care sports medicine physician at Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster, said there are many barriers that keep people from ever getting started — a big one is not knowing where to start.
“Look at what are the biggest barriers to exercise,” he said. “Once you can identify those barriers (then) you can put a plan in place.
“The most common barriers are fatigue, boredom, time constraints, health status, lack of motivation, climate, accessibility and economic reasons, (but) I’ve found in my practice and in my own life, the most common barrier is time constraints.”
While both Hale and Joelle Akridge, director of recreation ministries at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, understand these barriers, they can be overcome, but it has to start with the mind.
“I think the mental aspect keeps people from [moving around] because they may say, ‘I don’t have an hour to exercise,’ but if you have 10 minutes then get up and move for those 10 minutes,” Akridge said.
Hale agreed.
“Maintaining a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise is really a mind-set,” he said. “People need to develop a paradigm shift from their normal way of approaching life where they go to work, come home, eat dinner, rest and go to bed.”
So how does one go from being a couch potato to one who is more active?
Akridge, Hale and Petrella offer some practical tips to adding more movement to one’s everyday life:
• Take the stairs over the elevator. “If you are in an office building, take the stairs if you have to go one to two floors up or three floors down,” Petrella said. “It usually gets you there quicker than the elevator anyway.”
• Don’t choose the closest parking space. “Park further away from your destination to increase your walking in the parking lot,” Petrella said.
• Take five minutes of every hour to get up and move around the office. “Get up from your desk when you can and move at different times in the day,” Akridge said. “Some of my colleagues will eat their lunch at their desk and walk the circle around the worship service. … Or you can walk up and down stairs for 10 minutes of your lunch break.”
• Play active video games with your children. Akridge suggests video games like Wii Fit or Dance Dance Revolution.
• Start walking. “Walking is one of the best forms of activity that can improve your health,” Petrella said. “Several short walks a day can make a dramatic difference in your health profile. … A brisk 10 minute walk in the morning, at lunch and after [work] is as effective as going for 30 minutes at one time.” (See story, page 9.)
• Walk the dog. “Do you have a dog that you just let out during the day to get his own exercise?” Akridge asked. “What if you start walking him in the morning and during the evening (instead)?”
• Get a partner. “Find accountability,” Hale said. “It’s not fun to exercise by yourself.”
But whether one just wants to add more activity to his or her life or wants to start an exercise program, Hale suggests picking something he or she would enjoy the most.
“I’ll ask my med students and residents, ‘What is the best type of exercise,’” Hale said. “Really it’s a trick question because the best answer is whatever the patient will do, whatever they enjoy the most and whatever will help them stay motivated to go from a state of inactivity to activity.
“For some it may be square dancing, for others it may be walking their dog,” he added. “For some people, running or other load-bearing exercises are actually not best like for patients with joint disease or arthritis. They may benefit more from nonload-bearing exercises such as swimming or biking.” And besides all the health benefits of going from an inactive lifestyle to an active lifestyle, at the end of the day it “makes you feel better,” Hale said.
Akridge agreed.
“You can’t underestimate the mood change that a little bit of exercise can give you,” she said.
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Facts about exercising
• It is a primary prevention to promote health and lower Coronary Artery Disease mortality.
• It reduces arterial wall stiffness.
• It lowers blood pressure (systolic and diastolic).
• It lowers triglycerides.
• It raises HDL (high-density lipoprotein) or “good” cholesterol.
• It positively influences outcomes of chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and depression.
Source: Dr. Heath Hale
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