We all know that being overweight isn’t good for you, but for the first time, there is now an analysis of just how much of a difference a few pounds can make. A new study just released shows just how much being overweight affects a woman’s life span. (Men were not included in this study, but one can reasonably assume that the results would be similar.) In 1976, they picked 17,000 women (average age of 50) and monitored their weight and health changes every two years. The results were surprising.
They didn’t just monitor how old the person lived to be, they were also curious about quality of life. Living to 70 or 80 is one thing, but being able to have a high quality of life at that age is entirely different. So what did they consider a high quality life? To be free of chronic disease and having enough mental and physical ability to perform daily tasks like vacuuming, grocery shopping, and walking up a flight of stairs. This is the first study I’ve seen that looks at quality of life, and I think all of us hope to have a high quality of life as we age.
Every time the women increased their Body Mass Index (BMI) by one point, they found the women in the study lowered their chance of surviving to 70 with a high quality of life dropped by 12 percent. It didn’t necessarily mean that they would die before 70, but their quality of life would drop by 70. To find out your current or past BMI, you can use this
BMI Calculator.
It really is about quality of life, isn’t it? Being able to be dependent, take care of yourself, and not having to depend on your family to get around. I think it’s why most people fear getting older. It doesn’t have to do with age; it has to do with quality of life. So what can you do if you are currently overweight, but don’t want to live a life where you are dependent on others later in life?
One of the first things is to lose weight, obviously. By losing weight you will improve your health, and lower your chances of developing the diseases that were mentioned earlier (cancer, diabetes, and heart disease). I don’t know if you know people who have gone through any of those diseases or not, but it is not easy once you have it, yet so preventable.
I know we are inundated with pharmaceutical ads all the time, but honestly, a healthy diet and good exercise program is still the most effective thing to improve your health (especially if you haven’t developed any of the warning signs of these diseases yet).
If you are overweight or have a family history of cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, it is even more imperative that you start taking action right away.
Contact me today and let me help you get on the right track to health. If you are at risk, and moving in the right direction, please keep it up. But if you are at risk and not moving in the right direction, please do something about it before it’s too late.
Contact me today and let me help you get started in the right direction. Call me at 281-500-6055.