Study Shows More Education Equals More Exercise
 By Dr. Mercola

The CDC's Summary Health Statistics, 2009 is out, and it comes with some intriguing figures on the overall picture of who's healthy -- and who's not -- among adults in the United States. When it comes to how education figures in to health, it turns out that the more educated you are, the healthier you may be.

The survey, which includes data from over 27,700 U.S. adults, found that people with a college education were more physically active, and were less likely to have heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and other chronic health problems such as back pain, kidney and liver disease or migraine headaches.

The two are undoubtedly linked, as exercise is directly related to a lowered risk of many of the chronic conditions on that list. It certainly does not take a college education to exercise, or realize that you should, so no matter how much schooling you have this is one simple health habit to take note of.

The Majority of U.S. Adults Get NO Vigorous Physical Activity

It's true that college grads do appear to get more exercise than most Americans, but that's not saying much when you consider the survey found 55 percent of adults aged 18 years and over never engaged in any periods of vigorous physical activity lasting 10 minutes or more per week.

When comparing activity levels among those with different educational backgrounds, the data showed 79 percent of adults with less than a high school diploma never engaged in vigorous exercise compared with 41 percent of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher.

Still, among those with a bachelor's degree or higher, only 39 percent exercised vigorously three or more times a week, compared with 13 percent of adults with less than a high school diploma. These are dismal numbers no matter how you look at it, as overall only 28 percent of U.S. adults engaged in such activity three or more times a week!

What makes this finding all the more poignant is that even though most Americans are not exercising at nearly the levels they need to be optimally healthy, 61 percent said they were in excellent or very good health. But it's virtually impossible to achieve high-level health if you don't exercise! Of course, if you choose not to exercise, the only person who gets cheated is you!




Related Articles

Overtraining Questions Answered - How long should you train and how often should you do one muscle group.

Electrolytes
They say you need to drink sports drinks after a hard game in order to replenish your electrolytes, but just what are electrolytes?

Tae Bo DVDs a Fun Way to Exercise - Tae Bo is a great way to work on balance, flexibility, and burning off extra calories.

The Relationship Between Insulin to Sugar -  Insulin actually is the body's appetite suppressant

Foods and supplements to fight inflammation

Osteoporosis facts and prevention for women and men
To prevent osteoporosis weight lifting, resistance training, and getting calcium and vitamin D is crucial

Fluoride Bad For Our Health
Could fluoride in our drinking water be hurting our health? Some doctors think so.

Review of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Workout DVD
Review of the levels and the exercises therein, plus my opinion on the DVD as a whole.