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The Now What Fitness Series lays out the foundation of fitness in a concise and simplified manner, making for a collection of books that help the reader truly comprehend how to improve one's health and well-being from A to Z. I've broken fitness down into comprehensive concepts, giving anybody who truly wants to change their health and their lives in profound ways, the step-by-step tools and knowledge to do so.
DOES A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE REALLY MATTER?
Why should we care about a healthy lifestyle? If you were to ask most people what are the most important things in their lives, I guarantee at the top of the list would be answers like health and happiness.
All you have to do is get sick to really appreciate how good it feels to feel good, right? Without our health, our quality of life suffers and our happiness along with it.
When you really think about it, it’s crazy not to do what we can—what is in our control—to promote our own health and happiness through making healthy lifestyle choices, don’t you think?
Why should we exercise? Why should we care about what we put in our mouths or about what we eat? Does a healthy lifestyle really make that much of a difference?
Just take a look at a few healthy lifestyle statistics
and then YOU do the math:
BAD NEWS: Heart disease and stroke are, respectively, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States and are four of the ten most costly health conditions affecting employers.
GOOD NEWS: The leading modifiable (controllable) risk factors for heart disease and stroke are:
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Cigarette smoking
- Diabetes
- Poor diet and physical inactivity
- Overweight and obesity
MORE BAD NEWS: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts found that with every 1 percent increase in body mass index, an individual's annual health care costs goes up $120.
Appalling Obesity Statistics:
- 58 Million Overweight; 40 Million Obese; 3 Million Morbidly Obese
- Eight out of 10 People Over 25 are Overweight
- 78% of Americans Below Basic Activity Level Recommendations
- 25% are Completely Sedentary
- 76% Increase in Type II Diabetes in Adults Age 30-40 Since 1990
- The worldwide prevalence of obesity more than doubled between 1980 and 2014.
If these facts aren't scary enough, go to state of obesity fast facts for a more in-depth look at the staggering stats that we can actually alter if we just get busy!
MORE GOOD NEWS: The benefits of regular cardiovascular exercise and strength training along with a healthy nutrition plan can truly mean the difference between life and death, not to mention save you money in the long run. That may sound like an over dramatization, but in this case the truth is definitely dramatic!
- The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) found that a 7 percent weight loss together with moderate levels of physical activity (walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week) decreased the number of new diabetes cases by 58 percent among people at risk for diabetes.
- On average, health care claim costs for IBM employees who exercise 1- 2 times a week are $350 a year less than those who don't exercise at all.
- A recent study of 200 people at 3 major corporations revealed that an employee's quality of life, mental performance, and time management was 15% better on days when they exercised.
- Regular exercise will increase employee morale, decrease sick days used, and potentially lower health care costs.
THINK ABOUT THIS
We are finally seeing a trend in rising awareness of the importance of implementation of a healthy lifestyle and its positive effects on not only our lives in terms of health and happiness, but productivity and well-being in general. More and more companies are finally getting on the "fitter is smarter" bandwagon. It's truly a win/win situation. Yay for that! Workplace Wellness is catching on. Check out this encouraging article from The Harvard Business Review.
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