Your Country, Your Health

“Utopia must begin in the body of man.” Plato said as he dreamed of the utopian society. The broad shouldered, aristocratic philosopher regarded the ill health of an indolent society as “the absurdity of the idle rich.”

Plato spoke of the medicine of his day as something that “educated diseases,” offering no cure but only a treatment to the symptom. The remedy to health care problems; then, was to be found in physical health habits.

“For the first 10 years of life, education should be predominantly physical… and in this first decade such health will be stored up as will make all medicine unnecessary.”

Today we see the validity of Plato's thoughts as we analyze the facts of the obesity epidemic in America today.

According to the center for disease control:

*In 2000 the total cost of obesity in the United States was 117 billion dollars.
*In 2000 health care costs associated with physical inactivity topped 76 billion dollars.
*2/3rds of the American population are overweight.
*If 10% of adults began a regular walking program, $5.6 billion in heart disease costs could be saved.
*A sustained 10% weight loss will reduce an overweight person’s lifetime medical costs by $2,200–$5,300 by lowering costs associated with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high cholesterol.

According to a study conducted by Duke University researchers:

*Workers compensation claims per 100 employees cost $51,019 for obese workers and $7,503 for non-obese workers.
*Obese employees filed 11.65 workers compensation claims per 100 workers compared to 5.8 filed by those within a health weight range.
*Obese workers lost 13 times as many days of work as their colleagues who weighed less.
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So what are we to do? Plato would have us banish all citizens above 10 years of age and start all over. Nah... too much trouble. One does not need to banish citizens, but only to banish poor habits and replace those habits with positive health habits. The National Academy of Sports medicine provides a road map for success.

National Academy of Sports Medicines Guidelines for attacking obesity:
*People struggling with obesity need to burn 200-300 calories per day from exercise, with a minimum of 1250 calories burned per week.
*Low impact cardiovascular exercise sessions (40-80% of max heart rate) 40-60 minutes per day; or 2 ½ hour sessions per day, at least 5 days per week.

*Regular flexibility practices

*Core and balancing exercises 2-3 days per week.

*Resistance exercise consisting of 1-3 sets of 10-15 reps 2-3 days per week. Repetitions of up to 20 may be used. Resistance should consist of a push, a pull, and a squat. Resistance training will burn fewer calories but will be vital to preserving muscle mass and continuing results.
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Too much of a good thing can also act to the detriment of the state. As Plato wrote “we do not want a nation of weight lifters and prize fighters… To be merely an athlete is to be nearly a savage.” Work hard on your job and be creative in developing a fun, healthy lifestyle which will serve to care for your health and the health of your country.