Fitness Crisis

[yovargas]

I find this a very interesting issue that I'm surprised get talked about more often. It is like the issue of gun violence in that it seems to be a uniquely american issue. Other rich countries have obesity problems too but none anywhere near as bad as we do. But I rarely hear anybody asking, why?

[Dave_LF]

Hm. Apparently I'm both too old and too bekidded to join the military. Not that I intended to, but I sort of don't like knowing that I can't.

I wonder why that is? I mean, I knew the southern states are economically depressed- I just figured that was from getting whapped with serious hurricane damage every decade or so. Why do they get more physical problems than average, as well?

A big part of it is demographics--black populations are still concentrated in the South, and for reasons that could make up a topic of their own, African-American communities are less healthy than general American ones wherever they occur. Another factor, I think, is cultural. "Macho culture" is stronger in the South than elsewhere, and within that culture, it's considered unmasculine to look after your health since this is tantamount to a confession of mortality.

[yovargas]

I seem to recall a statistic that said something like even the health state in the US (Colorado, I believe) has higher obesity rates than the next most obese country (the UK, I believe). If I'm remembering that correctly and it is true, singling out southern states seems besides the point. This is not a regional problem, it is a US problem.

[Dave_LF]

It is, but the South is worse.

Which is something you could say about most of our national problems.

[Maria]

What bothers me the most about this is the statement:

"Over 24 million of the 34 million people of that age group cannot join the armed forces -- even if they wanted to,"

Only 10 million available for military duty ... and 16.1 million Americans served in WWII.

Not that we'll ever do trench warfare ever again- but if anything ever comes up requiring the same numbers, we'll be in trouble.

edit: I had another "recalled to active duty" dream last night, with a new twist. I couldn't button the uniform. They didn't make them big enough for me.

[Dave_LF]

Well; I expect they'd relax their standards somewhat in a true emergency. With what consequence, it's hard to say.

[Maria]

We have a huge population of gamers. The answer would probably be remote controlled robots or mech suits.