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TAG | exercise
28
Frightening Diabetes Numbers
No comments · Posted by bjmdjd in Health Information, Medical Studies
Most of us realize that diabetes is a very costly disease. Both in dollars and in mortality and mobidity numbers. Several months ago the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (Nov. 2009) released the following staggering numbers concerning diabetes.
- 24 million Americans with diabetes
- $174 billion spent on diabetes in 2007
- $11,477 average annual cost in 2007 to an American with diabetes
- $60 average cost of a box of 100 blood glucose test strips
- $70 average cost for a vial of insulin
One of the scariest facts is that the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes is growing everyday. I think that there are 2 main reasons for this. (1) Lower lab number results are now used to diagnose the disease. Until recently the medical community found that it was missing too many diabetics using the old numbers. (2) And the growing problem of childhood obesity. Many young people are now being diagnosed with Type II diabetes which is something that rarely ever happened in the past.
Educate yourself, get plenty of exercise, watch what you eat and maintain a healthy weight. As the old T.V. commercial used to say, “The life you save may be your own.” bjmdjd
Material modifications since posting: none
diabetes · exercise · health · healthcare · lose weight · wellness
- Walk to the corner shops instead of driving.W
- Walk to the bus stop or train station, and catch public transport to work.
- If taking the bus or tram, get off one stop early and walk the rest of the way.
- Park the car a fair distance from the entrance of the shops and walk, rather than parking right out front.
- Wash and vacuum the car yourself instead of taking it to a car wash
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Use at least half of your lunch break for a brisk walk, even if it is only 10-15 minutes (make sure to bring some comfortable shoes with you, or leave them in your locker at work)
- Stretch at your desk every hour
- When you need to talk to a colleague, don’t use the phone or internal email – get up from your desk and walk over to them
- If your job involves sitting at a desk all day, make sure you get up and walk around for a few minutes every hour
- You might enjoy the housework a little more if you think about all the calories you’re burning while pushing the vacuum and mop around
- Listen to your favorite music or the radio and dance around the house
- Play actively with your children
- Walk the dog or go for after dinner walks regularly with the family, or make your usual walk 10 minutes or so longer
- Get stuck into your garden. Mow, rake leaves and get some planting done
- Incorporate a few more physical activities into your family’s leisure time, for example, you could take the children to the park or kick a ball around the backyard instead of going to the movies.
- Ignore the elevators in favor of the stairs
- In shopping centers, take the stairs instead of the escalators
- If you do take the escalator, walk up them instead of just riding them
- If you live close enough, try walking to drop off the movies you rented, or walking to mail a letter or pick up some milk
