4 ms·

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_ex... Taken as a whole, the US i

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_ex... Taken as a whole, the US is low on the list. Taken by state, it really depends on where you live.

enjo 10y ago
I know that race plays a significant factor here. I wonder how much that drags down some of those southeastern states? edit: Reading farther down breaks things out by race, which suggests that it is only partially responsible. White life expectancy in those southeastern states is quite a bit worse.
- peckrob 10y ago
  I'm a resident of Alabama, 49th on the list. Unhealthy lifestyles is the biggest cause and it cuts across racial lines. * Astronomically high rates of obesity, diabetes, etc. across all genders, races and incomes. * Poor diet. The food is delicious, but bad for you. In many places it is very difficult to find healthy food and when you do it tends to be limited in selection and expensive. * Lack of physical activity. Everything is car oriented, no or very little public transit. Nothing is walkable, and you really don't want to when it's 100 degrees outside in the summer. The thing that always surprises me is how our bad habits cut across all other demographic lines. I know just as many unhealthy rich people as poor people. Any way you slice it, the unhealthy lifestyle here is a problem. (FWIW, I'm overweight but working like hell to get down since my doctor warned me that I was pre-diabetic. 50 pounds down, 40 to go!)
  - purple-again 10y ago
    Congrats on your weight loss! Do your self s huge favor and remind yourself everyday for awhile once you plateau how easy it is to put the weight back on. It requires a systemic change to lifestyle, either less sedentary or less calories, in order to maintain your new weight. Source: disappointed myself not once but twice before I figured it out.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    > our bad habits cut across all other demographic lines. I know just as many unhealthy rich people as poor people. Thanks for the story and I know little about Alabama personally, but I'd be very surprised if the data said that health and healthy habits are not dependent on wealth.
  - yourapostasy 10y ago
    > Nothing is walkable, and you really don't want to when it's 100 degrees outside in the summer. YMMV, but I and many others who water fasted (nothing but water) 3-20 days report finding those temperatures far more tolerable, comfortable even. Many people find losing weight easier on periodic water fasts (once a month, for example) than counting calories, so this might aid your weight loss quest (congratulations on your exceptional personal and disciplined accomplishment). After a certain point during a water fast, your body undergoes physiological changes drawing blood closer to the core, and your extremities feel cold as a result. Further beyond that point (seems to depend upon how keto-adapted you are before you start the fast), if you have fat reserves, the body adapts to burning fat, and the cold sensitivity becomes a little bit better. Personally, I found I really enjoy blistering hot and even humid+hot weather while fasting. High 30-low 40 C, 100+ degree F hot is a pleasant fireplace-like warmth while fasting as long as I'm moving; if I stay still without sunscreen then I can start to feel uncomfortable from the burning sensation on my skin, but my body still is happy with the outside temperature. If this effect applies broadly across the population, then encouraging people in hot and humid climates to adopt walk-able urban layouts even during the height of summer heat waves might involve encouraging some form of caloric restriction. If you want to experiment with this effect, try doing short-duration fasts by skipping an odd meal here and there now, and by this summer, and you could be walking in the AL sun for an hour or so each day to help hit your end of the summer goal weight.
obstinate 10y ago
Surely other countries have disparities of their own, though.
3131s 10y ago
Interesting (and perhaps emblematic) that DC has the highest life expectancy for whites, yet the lowest for blacks compared to any states that keep that statistic.
- purple-again 10y ago
  Not surprising for whites. D.C. Is home to many of the richest and most powerful families in the nation, most of which are still whites. It's long been studied that the rich have much better access which leads to a higher life expectancy on average. The blacks is a head scratcher. You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics D.C. has a high violent crime rate, but Republican politicians recently don't trumpet it to attack the local government and the party behind it the way they do Baltimore or, particularly, Chicago's, perhaps because while D.C. has an elected (and Democrat-dominated) city government that is allowed some latitude, it's government is Constitutionally a Congressional power, and Congress regularly exercises that power to prescribe local policy or veto local government acts, so they'd end up pointing the finger at their own failures if they were to blame government in D.C.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  D.C.'s population includes, to a first approximation, the governing elite of.the nation (including both government officers and lobbyists, etc.) who come to D.C. because that's where the capital is, and the local population that is there because they can't afford to leave. The former is overwhelmingly white (and higher socioeconomic status that whites generally in the nation), the latter is overwhelmingly black and poor.

enjo 10y ago

I know that race plays a significant factor here. I wonder how much that drags down some of those southeastern states? edit: Reading farther down breaks things out by race, which suggests that it is only partially responsible. White life expectancy in those southeastern states is quite a bit worse.

peckrob 10y ago
I'm a resident of Alabama, 49th on the list. Unhealthy lifestyles is the biggest cause and it cuts across racial lines. * Astronomically high rates of obesity, diabetes, etc. across all genders, races and incomes. * Poor diet. The food is delicious, but bad for you. In many places it is very difficult to find healthy food and when you do it tends to be limited in selection and expensive. * Lack of physical activity. Everything is car oriented, no or very little public transit. Nothing is walkable, and you really don't want to when it's 100 degrees outside in the summer. The thing that always surprises me is how our bad habits cut across all other demographic lines. I know just as many unhealthy rich people as poor people. Any way you slice it, the unhealthy lifestyle here is a problem. (FWIW, I'm overweight but working like hell to get down since my doctor warned me that I was pre-diabetic. 50 pounds down, 40 to go!)
- purple-again 10y ago
  Congrats on your weight loss! Do your self s huge favor and remind yourself everyday for awhile once you plateau how easy it is to put the weight back on. It requires a systemic change to lifestyle, either less sedentary or less calories, in order to maintain your new weight. Source: disappointed myself not once but twice before I figured it out.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > our bad habits cut across all other demographic lines. I know just as many unhealthy rich people as poor people. Thanks for the story and I know little about Alabama personally, but I'd be very surprised if the data said that health and healthy habits are not dependent on wealth.
- yourapostasy 10y ago
  > Nothing is walkable, and you really don't want to when it's 100 degrees outside in the summer. YMMV, but I and many others who water fasted (nothing but water) 3-20 days report finding those temperatures far more tolerable, comfortable even. Many people find losing weight easier on periodic water fasts (once a month, for example) than counting calories, so this might aid your weight loss quest (congratulations on your exceptional personal and disciplined accomplishment). After a certain point during a water fast, your body undergoes physiological changes drawing blood closer to the core, and your extremities feel cold as a result. Further beyond that point (seems to depend upon how keto-adapted you are before you start the fast), if you have fat reserves, the body adapts to burning fat, and the cold sensitivity becomes a little bit better. Personally, I found I really enjoy blistering hot and even humid+hot weather while fasting. High 30-low 40 C, 100+ degree F hot is a pleasant fireplace-like warmth while fasting as long as I'm moving; if I stay still without sunscreen then I can start to feel uncomfortable from the burning sensation on my skin, but my body still is happy with the outside temperature. If this effect applies broadly across the population, then encouraging people in hot and humid climates to adopt walk-able urban layouts even during the height of summer heat waves might involve encouraging some form of caloric restriction. If you want to experiment with this effect, try doing short-duration fasts by skipping an odd meal here and there now, and by this summer, and you could be walking in the AL sun for an hour or so each day to help hit your end of the summer goal weight.

obstinate 10y ago

Surely other countries have disparities of their own, though.

3131s 10y ago

Interesting (and perhaps emblematic) that DC has the highest life expectancy for whites, yet the lowest for blacks compared to any states that keep that statistic.

purple-again 10y ago
Not surprising for whites. D.C. Is home to many of the richest and most powerful families in the nation, most of which are still whites. It's long been studied that the rich have much better access which leads to a higher life expectancy on average. The blacks is a head scratcher. You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics D.C. has a high violent crime rate, but Republican politicians recently don't trumpet it to attack the local government and the party behind it the way they do Baltimore or, particularly, Chicago's, perhaps because while D.C. has an elected (and Democrat-dominated) city government that is allowed some latitude, it's government is Constitutionally a Congressional power, and Congress regularly exercises that power to prescribe local policy or veto local government acts, so they'd end up pointing the finger at their own failures if they were to blame government in D.C.
dragonwriter 10y ago
D.C.'s population includes, to a first approximation, the governing elite of.the nation (including both government officers and lobbyists, etc.) who come to D.C. because that's where the capital is, and the local population that is there because they can't afford to leave. The former is overwhelmingly white (and higher socioeconomic status that whites generally in the nation), the latter is overwhelmingly black and poor.