3 ms·

To be fair, driving 20 - 30 minutes for work is not strange, and on a highway with a 65mph speed limit you can go far fast. If you have some data to correlate

by tudelo 8y ago

To be fair, driving 20 - 30 minutes for work is not strange, and on a highway with a 65mph speed limit you can go far fast. If you have some data to correlate low density housing to obesity that would be really interesting though.

bpicolo 8y ago
As a loose metric, obesity rates are definitely higher in rural areas vs cities. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2685156 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/26851... It doesn't look like you can correlate directly on city density though: https://wallethub.com/edu/fattest-cities-in-america/10532/ https://wallethub.com/edu/fattest-cities-in-america/10532/ Feels like obesity rates are a large part culturally driven - the foods and lifestyle you and your relatives/those around you encourage. That's sorta why the South is "winning" the game.
- magduf 8y ago
  This stuff is definitely true. I've lived in and spent significant time in a bunch of different parts of the US: South, western states, northeast, mid-atlantic, rural and urban and suburban. It's really shocking just how different people look between, for instance, rural-ish Deep South areas and Manhattan, downtown DC, urban California, etc., especially in terms of body size. Even in the DC area where I currently live, it's downright shocking just how different people (esp. 20-50yo women) look between, say, downtown DC and areas merely an hour's drive away. Urban DC is full of very attractive, slim women. An hour+ away? They're almost non-existent, but there's tons of overweight ones. There's really a giant cultural divide going on in this country, and it's disturbing if you think about it; it doesn't seem sustainable. It kinda reminds me of the Eloi vs. the Morlocks, except in our reality, the Morlocks aren't really that productive economically and things really don't look good for them. As an aside, another interesting difference I've noticed with body sizes is that people are noticeably taller in the west-coast urban areas than in the east-coast ones. I'm a little over 6' and I feel very tall on the east coast. When I've traveled to the west, I feel more average.
  - spiralx 8y ago
    The Atlantic has this article that explores that cultural divide in depth: http://www.theatlantic.com/article/559130/ http://www.theatlantic.com/article/559130/

by tudelo 8y ago

bpicolo 8y ago

As a loose metric, obesity rates are definitely higher in rural areas vs cities. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2685156 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/26851... It doesn't look like you can correlate directly on city density though: https://wallethub.com/edu/fattest-cities-in-america/10532/ https://wallethub.com/edu/fattest-cities-in-america/10532/ Feels like obesity rates are a large part culturally driven - the foods and lifestyle you and your relatives/those around you encourage. That's sorta why the South is "winning" the game.

magduf 8y ago
This stuff is definitely true. I've lived in and spent significant time in a bunch of different parts of the US: South, western states, northeast, mid-atlantic, rural and urban and suburban. It's really shocking just how different people look between, for instance, rural-ish Deep South areas and Manhattan, downtown DC, urban California, etc., especially in terms of body size. Even in the DC area where I currently live, it's downright shocking just how different people (esp. 20-50yo women) look between, say, downtown DC and areas merely an hour's drive away. Urban DC is full of very attractive, slim women. An hour+ away? They're almost non-existent, but there's tons of overweight ones. There's really a giant cultural divide going on in this country, and it's disturbing if you think about it; it doesn't seem sustainable. It kinda reminds me of the Eloi vs. the Morlocks, except in our reality, the Morlocks aren't really that productive economically and things really don't look good for them. As an aside, another interesting difference I've noticed with body sizes is that people are noticeably taller in the west-coast urban areas than in the east-coast ones. I'm a little over 6' and I feel very tall on the east coast. When I've traveled to the west, I feel more average.
- spiralx 8y ago
  The Atlantic has this article that explores that cultural divide in depth: http://www.theatlantic.com/article/559130/ http://www.theatlantic.com/article/559130/