Tomorrow we celebrate Independence Day in the U. S. with parades, picnics, and fireworks. We will eat our favorite grilled foods—burgers and dogs or smoked slow-cooked ribs and corn on the cob and on and on.

The problem is that while we celebrate our nation’s Independence, we are giving up our own independence. Based on a just-released report from the Centers for Disease Control, just 22.9% of all adults meet the exercise guidelines set 10 years ago (1).

It’s this simple: if you’re not working at moving, you’ll eventually lose your independence to move. You’ll need canes and walkers just to be able to prevent falls. You may graduate to a wheelchair and then the ultimate: the motorized cart. The more sedentary you are, the more independence you lose. Ever sink your behind into a chair you couldn’t get out of without help? Imagine if that’s your life all day, every day.

The guidelines aren’t that complicated. Two days a week, do some muscle-strengthening activities: lifting weights, calisthenics, yoga, whatever strengthens and stretches your muscles. Then either moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for at least 150 minutes per week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise or some combination of the two. That’s it. Just about 30 minutes per day.

Yet less then 23% of all adults meet those guidelines. Some states are better than others. The best? Colorado at 32.5%. The worst? Mississippi at 13.5%. Just for comparison, I checked a similar map of the diagnosed type 2 diabetes rate of the U.S. If you super-imposed the type 2 diabetes diagnosis rate over the exercise levels, they would be close to identical. The lower the rate of exercise, the higher the rate of diabetes. Diabetic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and a whole host of other health issues wait for those who stay sedentary.

The Bottom Line

Over this holiday and the succeeding weekend, try doing some type of aerobic activity every day for 30 minutes. Continuous or broken up into two 15s or even three 10s. If you can, try to do some stretching for 10 minutes one of those days. Find out for yourself that it’s not that big a deal. Then make it a habit to meet those guidelines. Years from now, you can celebrate your independence from canes and walkers, and so on.

Today, I record the 700th edition of my Grand Rapids radio show Straight Talk on Health. See the Health Info page for info on how to listen online; if you’re a Member or Insider, this new edition will be posted after it plays this weekend.

Happy Fourth of July, a belated Happy Canada Day, and a simple thank you to all my readers all around the world—I continue to be amazed at how many countries this Memo reaches. I’ll be back with new Memos next Tuesday. Until then:

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

References:
1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr112.pdf
2. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pdfs/data/statistics/national-diabetes-statistics-report.pdf.