Even if you spend seven or more hours per week in moderate-to-vigorous exercise, if you sit in front of your TV too much of the rest of your waking hours your health may be compromised, according to a study published in 2012 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and reported in the Wall Street Journal [3/12/13]. The American Heart Association and other experts say that you should aim for 10,000 steps per day, but according to a 2010 study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Americans only averaged about 5,100 steps. We at Wilddancer strongly urge people to make up some of the average 4,900 steps deficit by dancing, which most people would likely agree is more fun than walking on a treadmill or step machine or riding an exercycle.
There is considerable regional variation in people’s step counts, from a high of about 6,500 in fitness-conscious/ outdoors-oriented Colorado to states like Arkansas and Tennessee with a low of about 4,500. But obesity levels (and life expectancy) correlate pretty closely with these counts. The latest data come from the journal Population Health Metrics, published by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The county-by-county analysis shows that California’s San Francisco had the lowest 2009 obesity rates, 20.2% for women and 17.8% for men, compared with the women’s national average of about 36% and a high of nearly 60% in some parts of Mississippi. Marin County women expect to live to 85, compared with the national average of 80 and 12 years longer than in Perry, KY. (These figures are averages, and factors like age, education, income, and race can cause significant differences.) The most telling figures, though are that the poorer-performing counties and states have life expectancies than many third-world countries with much worse food, water, nutrition, and medical care.