8.05.2009

The Cost of Obesity

No matter what health care delivery system this country adopts, no matter what plan or series of plans are enacted, it will be bankrupted in no time by the ongoing obesity epidemic if we don't act now.

Spending on obesity-related medical issues jumped 82 percent from 2001 to 2006, with the current price tag $147 billion a year. But these startling stats really aren't that startling when you also learn that two-thirds of American adults and one-third of the children in this country are either overweight or obese.

Fighting obesity is really a public health issue that must be centered in individual communities, workplaces, and schools and involve grassroots action and education. And the initiative must get into high gear now.

We need to create communities where fresh and healthier food, not just fast food, is within easy access, where there are paved sidewalks and bike paths that encourage physical activity, where the opportunity to exercise is more widely available in the workplace. We need schools where physical education is mandatory and playgrounds are plentiful. We need schools that teach our children about healthy eating at an early age (with hands-on vegetable garden "science labs" that excite kids about eating what they grow). And in those same schools we need healthier cafeteria meals and nutritious snacks in the vending machines. Furthermore, we need to encourage busy families to sit down at the dinner table together, even if it's only once a week.


If you find yourself or your family overweight or obese-please take action now for a healthier and happier life!!


Cost of Obesity

Tanning Beds

Sunbeds pose a similar cancer risk as cigarettes and asbestos, according to an international cancer research agency. The agency is now recommending that tanning machines should be moved to "the highest cancer risk category" and be labeled as "carcinogenic to humans". It followed a review of research that concluded that the risk of melanoma -- the most deadly form of skin cancer -- was increased by 75 percent in people who started using sunbeds regularly before the age of 30.

Melanoma is the second most common cancer in women aged 20 - 29.5, according to the America Melanoma Foundation.

www.cnn.com

Small Can Be Big

I know this is a difficult time for everyone and money is tight. But I have come across this lovely organization that takes small donations to help specific families at a time. The amount you donate can be any denomination you would like. They actually encourage $1, $3 donations.

(and we all have that)

If charity and giving is something you often do, but find that you don't have the money you used to, this is a great organization for smaller amounts that still go a long way.

http://smallcanbebig.org/

Antidepressant Usage Doubles for Americans

The number of Americans using antidepressants doubled in only a decade, while the number seeing psychiatrists continued to fall, a study shows.

About 10% of Americans — or 27 million people — were taking antidepressants in 2005, the last year for which data were available at the time the study was written. That's about twice the number in 1996, according to the study of nearly 50,000 children and adults in today's Archives of General Psychiatry. Yet the majority weren't being treated for depression. Half of those taking antidepressants used them for back pain, nerve pain, fatigue, sleep difficulties or other problems, the study says.

In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration issued a "black box" warning that the medications could increase the risk of suicidal thoughts in children. Use of antidepressants by children fell nearly 10% the next year, according to Olfson's 2008 study of the subject. Antidepressant use had been rising so quickly in the years before the warning, however, that the rate of use in 2005 was still higher than in 1996.

To aid this increase, spending on direct-to-consumer antidepressant ads increased from $32 million to $122 million.

Antidepressants do not cure depression they simply mask the symptoms. If you are on antidepressants I encourage you to seek counseling, find the root of the problem, try to fix it, and talk to your doctor about going off the medication.

USA Today