management and health discussion responses

1. I chose Alabama as the state to compare my home state of New York (NY). Obesity rates for Alabama (AL) for 18-24 years are 24.6%, while NY is 16.6% (CDC, 2019). Ages 25-34 for AL and NY are 36.4% and 23%, respectively (CDC, 2019). Ages 35-44 for AL and NY are 40.3% and 31.8% respectively (CDC, 2019). Ages 45-54 for AL and NY are 41.5% and 32.9% respectively (CDC, 2019). Ages 55-64 for AL and NY are 41.2% and 32%, respectively (CDC, 2019). For ages 65 and over for AL and NY are 31.3% and 24.5%, respectively.Obviously, looking at the statistics Alabama has a higher percentage of obese adults in all categories comparing to New York. Another observation is that both states increase their obesity rates in every age category, except ages 55-64, where the rates move down slightly. The rates for over the age of 65 are significantly lower for both states.The behavior that I chose is physical activity: categories for this behavior ranged from walking in the last week – time period (2011-2015) to getting 150 minutes of aerobic physical activity; time period (2019) (CDC, 2019). For the first category, New York out-paced Alabama by about 6% more, for the second category, NY again out-paced AL by about 5% (CDC, 2019). Other categories included, no leisure-time and physical activity with NY and AL at 27.2% and 31.5%. Clearly, the rate of obesity is directly related to decreasing in physical activity.Although these rates are adult statistics, the percent of students grades 9-12 with one hour or more of moderate physical activity, for NY and AL are 19.2% and 23.2% in this case, Alabama has a moderate edge over this age group with this type of physical activity (CDC, 2019). However, glancing at the average grade school (9-12), watched more than 3 hours of TV were higher for Alabama than New York by 2.2 percentage points.

2. The state I decided to look into was New York. I never really looked into the health status of any state and wondered what behaviors or decisions people make lead them to obesity. I decided to look into NY because every time I have been there I noticed how accessible it is to eat/ drink. A lot of NY residents do not drive, once again, making it way reachable to pass all those food trucks, Starbucks, McDonalds, and other restaurants.  This CDC website is very interesting because you can get information from an entire scope, infants to adults. According to the CDC, the sample size that was looked at to see which adults 18 years and older who have obesity and who are overweight was 12,631. The total value of those 18-year-old adults and older who had obesity was 27.1 and those who had an overweight classification the total value was 36.1. Now looking into adolescents who have obesity the total value was 13.4 and those adolescents who are overweight the total value was 16.3, both categories with a sample size of 9,215. Children who have an age range from 2 to 4 years old and have obesity totaled up a 14.0 value and those classified under overweight totaled a 15.4, once again both categories with a 164,822 sample size. Lastly, there was a total 10.4 value of infants from 3 to 23 months who have high weight for their current length. This category was from a sample size of 100,744. There are multiple behaviors that lead the residents of NY to become obese. I came upon an article from the department of health that stated “In 2009, 26.4% of adult New Yorkers reported no physical activity in the past 30 days” and I’m only assuming it got worse present day. With quarantine when Covid first began and now that people have to stay home as much as possible will only increase obesity. Poor eating habits, no physical activity, eating at fast food restaurants, drinking sugary beverages, etc are all behaviors that help increase the obesity and overweight of individuals.   

3. When comparing obesity to 2016, about the same number of adults 18 years and older were classified as being overweight at a value of 27.4 % with a sample size of 33,186. The trend of obesity in Florida maintained itself for 3 years with some fluctuation and a bigger sample size. Whereas 37.6% of adults 18 years and older are classified as being overweight with a sample size of 15,091 in 2019. Some pre-qualifications respondents had to meet were having a body mass index of > 25.0 but < 30.0. Respondents who were reporting their weight and heights at < 50 pounds > 650 pounds, height < 3 feet or > 8 feet or BMI < 12 or > 100 were excluded. Pregnant respondents were also excluded. In 2016, about 35.8% of adults 18 years and older were classified as being overweight with a sample size of 33,186. It can be said that the percentage of overweight Floridians increased over the span of 3 years. About 26.5 % of adults in Florida engage in no physical activity with a sample size of, 15,682 in 2019. When responding to the survey participants are asked if they have participated in any physical activity in the past month such as walking, running, calisthenics, golf, gardening, etc.…

In 2016, about 29.8% of adults engaged in no physical activity with a sample size of 26, 868.When comparing the two percentages over the span of 3 years it can be said that the percentage went down. Therefore, more people in Florida have been engaging in some aspect of physical activity. About 55.1% of adults in Florida engage in at least 150 minutes a week of physical activity with a sample size of 14,621 in 2019. When responding to the survey participants are asked if they have been in active in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity. In 2016, there was no data calculated for adults participating in 150 minutes a week of physical activity. 

       In my opinion, there are several behavioral activities that can lead to an increase in the obesity/overweight issue in Florida, such as a large population of Florida is the elderly and sometimes, they don’t have enough energy to participate in some physical activity. Often times, medication can play a role in a person being overweight. Another reason for increased obesity issue in Florida can be related to where they were surveying the population. Often times in lower income communities there is an overweight community because, in these areas unhealthy food is placed in schools, and convenient stores because they are cheap and easily accessible. It should be essential that all Americans receive proper nutrients to fuel their bodies. Although Florida is on the lower side of obesity levels when comparing to the rest of the United States, it is important that what we are feeding our bodies with healthy foods that hold proper nutrients.

4. Everyday behaviors of an individual often directly correlate to one’s health status and well-being. I have chosen to look at the state of Louisiana, and compare their behaviors and health status, as well as look to see how these behaviors have led to the state’s obesity status.According to the CDC’s “Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity: Data, Trends and Maps” Database, in 2019 the percentage of adults of the age of 18 in the obesity range is 35.9%, and children in grades 9-12 is 16.5%. When analyzing the population percentage of adults who are deemed overweight, the percentage is 35% and 17.8% in those children grades 9-12. For reference, BMI in that of an obese individual is greater than or equal to 30. An individual would be considered overweight if their BMI measured greater than or equal to 25 and less than 30.When comparing these percentages with overall behavior, we are able to draw a direct correlation to the populations diet and lifestyle. In 2019, nearly half of the study population reported that they consume fruits and vegetables less than one time per day, measuring in at 47.2%, and students in grades 9-12 were an overwhelming 53.1%. Balanced diets are crucial to staying at a healthy weight, but it should also be coupled with physical activity. 31.9% of adults reported that they do not engage in any kind of leisure physical activity, and only 19.7% of adults participate in at least 150 minutes a week of physical activity with muscle strengthening. High school students are required to participate in physical education classes during their time in school however, only 25.8% of students reported that they actually participate during the physical education period.These sedentary behaviors along with lack of a balanced and nutritious diet can absolutely lead to the current obesity demographic in Louisiana right now. Medically speaking, there are other factors that could also contribute to obesity such as genetic conditions and disease. However, proper nutrition planning, education, and consistent physical exercise could significantly help cut down on the overall obese and overweight population.

5. I chose to compare New Jersey to Texas because I was curious to see how much we differed from their health status and associated behaviors. New Jersey didn't have any statistics with regards to adult obesity in 2019, so I compared the obesity status of adults in New Jersey in 2018 to the obesity status of adults in Texas in 2018. In 2018 there were 2,767 obese adults over the age of 18 in New Jersey while there were over 10,000 obese adults in Texas (10,187). That is almost 5 times the number of obese adults as compared to New Jersey. After looking at the associated behaviors between New Jersey and Texas I was able to see why there was such a significant difference. In Texas, there were 10,538 adults who admitted to eating fruit less than once daily and 10,161 adults who admitted to eating vegetables less than once daily in 2019. New Jersey again didn’t have any statistics in regards to this behavior in the same year. The number of Texans’ performing adequate physical activity time was significantly less than New Jersey as well. 10,661 Texans admitted to exercising for at least 150 minutes a week, while 10,422 people from New Jersey worked out 150 minutes each week in 2017. It may appear that Texans are physically more active than people from New Jersey but if you compare the population size of New Jersey to Texas it isn’t even comparable. More Texans actually admitted to not working out at all as compared to people in New Jersey as well (“Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity: Data, trends and maps”, 2021). I believe that the obvious reasons that the obesity status in Texas is so high are due to their diet and physical activity. A lot of Texans are not eating a balanced diet with fruits and vegetables and many are not being physically active. These lifestyle choices can significantly affect one’s overall health and lead to obesity. Although a lot of these statistics are from different years the trends are still the same.