Youth might be wasted on the young, but according to the CDC, American youths have lost some healthy vigor. While insurance companies refer to young adults, ages 18 to 29, as "young invincibles," this demographic is not as healthy as most of us believe. Here are a few stats compiled by the CDC:
- One-third of this age demographic are cigarette smokers.
- Nearly a quarter of young adults are considered obese.
- Almost two-thirds of 18- to 29-year-olds report having no regular physical activity in their leisure time.
- This group has among the highest injury accident rate leading to ER visits.
Most 20-somethings are not concerned about the long-term effects of their lifestyle habits, but heart disease and diabetes are long-term health conditions that seem to be starting earlier and earlier in the lives of Americans. Young adults may be setting themselves up for chronic health conditions later in life by smoking, being overweight, and not exercising. If you smoke, once again I urge you to quit. It is one of the best things you can do for your health. If you're lacking physical activity, get off the couch and go for a walk. It is a great way to get exercise and see the world.
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The addiction to smoking is one of the worst addictions I think anyone could have and my hat is off to everyone who has quit! For the people who still smoke and want to quit there is a new device called an electronic cigarette that may help you to taper down and quit much like the nicotine patch system that is just brilliant! If you are interested in there or want more information about the product you can go to www.invisismoke.com
1Woow, I'm a bit shocked. Almost everyone around me are really healthy and no one I'm close to smokes at all.
2Never smoke, or even tried, never will.
3I agree Neon- I'm 24 and almost everyone I know is very healthy. That being said, one of the main reasons I am super healthy is because I have acne and drinking/smoking/not exercising/not eating veggies- that all really aggravates my skin. Now being healthy is habit, but my motivations are definitely not "prevent heart disease in 20-30 years." That's just gravy. Which is kind of crazy really...
4Me being obese does not automatically make me unhealthy.
5My sister's boyfriend is 31 and he & my sister joined my gym about 3 weeks ago...he's really getting into his workouts and is supposedly so into getting healthy that he's going to give up smoking. I'm rooting for him!
6Hmm, I fall into this age group and I'm faaaaaaaar from obese, I am physically active, never been to the ER, and I quit smoking years ago.
Oh well.
7Oh nerdovision, I saw that e-cigarette.. very cool idea!
better start to quit smoking. argh!
8Yeah, it's kind of sad...lots of people my age (I'm 27) that I know aren't in the best health. Lots of my husband's friends smoke and many of them are overweight. I'm glad I never started smoking (I have asthma, so smoking would have probably made it a ton worse) because I know it's a tough habit to kick.
9i must agree. i belong to this group and a lot of my friends are like that. smoking, getting fat and not doing anything physical. i'm like that as well. but trying hard, quit smoking, bought free weights, heart rate monitor, resistense bands and some mats and going at it around my neighbourhood and at home. slowly and painfully, but trying.
10i am one of the few who are concerned
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