Wellness Predictions for 2012

Posted on: 12-20-2011 With: 2 Comments Posted by: Arctic Ease

Over the past few days I’ve been reading various blogs and newspaper articles about health and wellness along with the resident ‘experts’ advice on weight loss, exercise and more.

When one starts thinking about their daily habits and how we take care of ourselves each day that revolve around nutrition, exercise, and general mental well-being what changes do you think we as a nation and as individuals will be see in 2012?

Below are some of these authors educated guess at the New Year:

Obesity rates in the USA will continue to rise from the 66% today. Yes that’s right 66% of the American population is obese! We have experienced a 36% increase in the rate of obesity in the past decade; in 1999 to 2000 only 30% of adults were considered obese.

The advent of the television and now the internet has taken us down the path of being a very inactive society. Poor diet and physical inactivity, results in an energy imbalance (an imbalance between the calories consumed and the calories expended), are two of the most important factors contributing to the increase in obesity. Other contributing factors include psychological considerations and motivations, education level, time constraints, and even cooking skills.

In the decade fast foods sales went from $110 billion on fast food in 2000 (up from $6 billion in 1970) to $184 billion in 2010, according to “US Fast Food Market Outlook 2010″. Americans consume more than half of their daily nutrition (food) in restaurants.

The marketing efforts by the leading chains are effective, so much so that:

The average preschooler (2-5 years) saw 2.8 TV ads for fast food every day in 2009; children (6-11 years) saw 3.5; and teens (12-17 years) saw 4.7.
Eighty-four percent of parents reported taking their child to a fast food restaurant at least once in the past week; 66% reported going to McDonald’s. 1

Diabetes: The prevalence of diabetes will not subside until we decide as individuals that our health is important to us. One of the leading causes of diabetes is obesity.

According to the American Diabetes Association, there are 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population that have diabetes.

Diagnosed: 18.8 million people
Undiagnosed: 7.0 million people
Prediabetes: 79 million people
New Cases: 1.9 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010.

Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults 20–74 years and the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for 44% of new cases each year.

Osteoarthritis rates will continue to rise: The USA as a country is aging and according to the Arthritis Foundation, about four million, quality-adjusted life years are lost due to knee osteoarthritis alone. They further conclude that those who are obese are also more likely to develop advanced, end-stage disease than those who maintain a healthy weight. Further, the CDC estimates that in less than 25 years, one-third of the nation’s arthritis cases will be people between the ages of 45 to 64.

Aging and obesity are the two leading factors that will account for the increased the risk of developing the disease.

Joints that ache can set off a cycle of weight gain and disease, experts say. Kids and adults stop moving much because of the pain, they gain weight, and that puts more pressure on weight-bearing joints such as the knees and the hips.

By their 40s or 50s, many overweight Americans have the joints of the average senior citizen.

Both the incidence of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, along with obesity has all risen dramatically in the past fifty years. Kate Lorig, director of the Patient Education Research Center at Stanford University agrees on the activity front: “The most dangerous exercise you can do when you have arthritis is none.”

Each pound of excess body fat adds the equivalent of 4 pounds stress to the knees. Studies show that women (who are at higher risk than men) can cut their risk of knee osteoarthritis in half with even small reductions in body weight.

There is an undeniable connection to poor diet that simply cannot be ignored. As obesity, osteoarthritis and even osteoporosis are now problem that are prevalent even for adolescents.

Awareness and prevention will have a renewed focus: A renewed focused on awareness and prevention will be a priority in 2012, as chronic diseases and preventable diseases if treated early account for many of our healthcare issues and costs.

Businesses and organizations from employers to insurers to retailers will continue to institute health-and-wellness programs to encourage better health and prevention.

Regardless of what your employer and the government may mandate, each of ours individual well-being depends on awareness and prevention. Being aware and working on prevention of disease states are probably the best defense against poor health and cutting unnecessary healthcare costs. Remember a good offense is better than an average defense.

Self-service: The ‘do-it-yourself’ and ‘self-service’ trend among consumers will continue in 2012. Technology will continue to play a very large role. Research has shown that 80% of U.S. Internet users claim to have used the web to search for health-related information and answers — and that is just search. The use of digital, social and mobile technologies will play a major role in 2012. Consumers and healthcare providers businesses are turning to digital and social communities to connect, learn and engage.

Increased co-pays from insurers will also drive the self-service movement. As we have seen in the past decade with the advent of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) each of us will be more responsible on how we spend our healthcare dollars.

Develop a ‘Combat’ plan; Medical Doctors and Researchers suggest staying active the smart way.

Make the decision that today will be the first day of the new you!

Develop a nutrition plan that incorporates 5-6 serving of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet.
Cut 10% of your ‘normal’ calorie intake, this along will result in dropping unwanted pounds without the starvation dieting feelings.
Participate in activities that don’t put extreme pressure on worn-out joints. Walking, biking, swimming and other low-impact activities can build muscle that supports tired, stiff joints.
Have the goal that you will complete 30 to 60 minutes each and every day of your chosen activity. Break it up throughout the day, 10 minutes now and 10 minutes later. There are no hero’s, the goal is to become active and sustain the activity for the long term.
As you awaken long dormant muscles, wrap up the sore joints and muscles with an Arctic Ease Cryotherapy Wrap®. This will allow you to remain active while minimizing the stiff sore feelings.