Mar 1st 2011, 14:41 by The Economist online
People who live in colder states take more exercise than those who live in warm ones
A RECENT report by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declares that only 64% of Americans surveyed can be described as physically active (defined as over 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or half as much vigorous activity). Almost a quarter get no exercise at all outside the workplace. The report offers a breakdown of exercisers by state. In general, it seems that people who live in cold states like Alaska are more likely to get their weekly work-out than those in sunny Florida. The biggest outliers from this correlation are Hawaii, where 70% are energetic, and Tennessee, which has the lowest percentage of active people despite a lower average temperature than several other states.
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I know that here in East Tennessee hiking and biking are pretty important to most adults. It is probably the hot and humid west that holds us down as a state.
Temperatures seem to be a meaningful factor. Another might be the availability of national/state parks or simply the beauty of the state's landscape. Mountainous and picturesque seems to beat flat, dusty or swampy.
I'm going to assume Pennsylvania is perfectly aligned with Utah
Remeber, exercise doesn't count shovelling snow nor pushing a snowblower.
Regards
I moved to Alabama from New Jersey ( to get away from the taxes ) and it has taken me two years to acclimate > start yard work before 7AM and schedule big outdoor projects to end way before Memorial Day . It is nice to be able to bike and run thru the entire winter , however . What kills , literally , Alabama is the diet , fat fat fat . And not helped by lousy seafood availability , broiled grouper or snapper does not compare to broiled swordfish , broiled bluefish , broiled striper etc etc
I wonder to what degree retirees bring down the average in states like Florida, Texas, and North Carolina?
I don't find the corellation impressive, particularly if you take out Alaska. If you weighted each state with their population, the curve gets flatter to the point of being insignificant. I suspect median family income would corellate better. Taking time to stay in shape requires leisure time and money (as does shopping for and cooking a healthy diet with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains).
It rarely ever gets lowers than 80 in Gabon (night or day), and people here exercise very often, sometimes in the dead heat of the day. Although the correlation is interesting, I highly doubt that there aren't other, more important variables to consider. In Little Rock, AR, and I'd imagine for other capital cities in the south, there simply is no culture built around biking on streets, jogging in herds down the road, rollerblading, etc. Unless you're some modern day carpetbagger, caught up in the Joneses, eager to get the next botox treatment, no one cares. Quite frankly, I don't care about any of that stuff either. I don't mind exercising; I take care of my body, eat right. But it's not our fault if southern food and southern laid back life are awesome! I almost died of starvation in Beantown, and the idiots biking in front of cars caused many-a-headache. Fried catfish and hushpuppies forever!
In winter, when it gets too cold you can always wear enough clothes to stay warm.
In summer, when it gets too hot you can only jump in the pool.
....and while the pool might be refreshing it doesn't do much for your ability to get stuff done.
Jeopardy Contestant: "Alex, Fun State Facts for $100."
Answer: "Because it's TOO DAMN HOT, knucklehead!"
Question: "Why don't more people exercise in the American South?"
Okay, now for my serious comment.
The Alaskan data is most likely skewed, because -
It's a huge state, with small towns and villages scattered throughout much of the state (and from which the average data was most likely derived), including the very cold north and interior. However -
Most Alaskan's live in the relatively warm southern banana belt.
So, albeit Alaskans are exercising, most are exercising in temperatures closer to that found in Seattle, rather than Nome.
To paraphrase Casey Stengel, you could look it up.
Maybe that's why the Air Force didn't their tanker built in Alabama, they knew no one would bother to show and work on the damn thing.
And, for my last comment:
Those whom I last encountered at a Sam's Club in Cincinnati, Ohio were definitely skewing the data down.
WAY down.
Did Arizona get kicked out of the Union? Or, are we off the right side of the map....
Okay, this really is my last comment:
It would be interesting to regress the data by income levels, educational levels, and red and blue states.
Call me crazy, but above the line appears to be denominated by blue states, and those below by red - although this again is linked to the fact that the American south (hot) tends to be red, and the north (colder) blue.
Faedrus -
Basically the hard working, Northern blue states, support the lazy red states. We've all heard of red-state welfare right?
Dear Sir,
I am to lazy to go directly to you sources, but I would like to know the coefficient of determination for your regression, since variables look uncorrelated to me.
The British Medical Journal produced a study that showed sloth was more strongly correlated to obesity than gluttony. More precisely the number of cars per household and the number of hours of TV watched per day were strongly correlated with obesity levels.
Other studies have shown that access, aesthetics, and safety are strong determinants of physical activity.
As the south is blessed with the sprawl of McMansions and the massive interstate highways that connect them it is no wonder people in the south show lower levels of activity and higher levels of obesity.
In other words, its not the temperature but the built environment that determines your activity level and thus the size of your waistline.
I'm sure the title was just too good to pass up. (And it was really great.)
But there are too many states with a variety of significantly different climates for a graph like this to be really useful. One commenter noted the different climates between eastern and western Tennessee, and another between south coastal Alaska and the rest of the state. California has at least four significantly different ones.
You might actually do better with European countries. At least they are small enough to have less internal climate variation.
Ohio, come on....stop spreading that myth. just stop it. whatever healthful measures cost, they cost...you are either invested in your well being or you're not, the rest is commentary and making excuses is so last century.
Where's AZ?? It's hot as hell for months on end and I still see kids biking and people jogging.