Holly Mitchell

Think about it.

The importance of Investing into our finical future has always been taught to us early in life.  More and more Americans spend the time learning what they need to do to secure investments so they can have an enjoyable, stress free way of life finically when they reach retirement age.  But how often do Americans look at investing in their own bodies at the same time they are investing into their financial future?

According to recent report with Urban Institute Fidelity Investments in 2010, the median out-of-pocket medical costs are expected to grow from about $2,600 in 2010 to $6,200 in 2040.

Fidelity Investments estimates that a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2009 will need approximately $240,000 to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses throughout retirement.

And the Employee Benefit Research Institute determined that a couple both age 65 will need to save $210,000 to have a 50 percent chance of paying for health expenses and $338,000 to have a 90 percent chance of being able to afford all their medical bills.[7]

By 2020 chronic conditions is  the leading cause of disability throughout the world. For many Americans, individual behavior and lifestyle choices influence the development and course of chronic conditions. Unhealthy behaviors, such as a poor diet with foods with filled with toxic chemicals, over processed, sugar and  GMO's,  lack of physical activity, Unhealthy habits, are risk factors for many chronic conditions and diseases. A high calorie diet and sedentary lifestyle commonly result in excessive weight gain. Overweight and obesity are risk factors for a large number of chronic diseases, most significantly, type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure, stroke, and hypertension.

 

The Statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows the leading causes of death in the US  in 2023:

•  Heart disease (695,547)

• Cancer  2023 (605,213) 2010 (562,875)

• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases):  (162,890)

• Diabetes (103,294)

• Poor diet and inactivity can lead to overweight/obesity. Persons who are overweight or obese are at increased risk for stroke.[8]

•  chronic lower respiratory diseases: 127,924 (2010) 142,342 (2023)

 

Fitness with purpose

Physical inactivity poses almost as much risk for heart disease as cigarette smoking,

 

• A  study in the Netherlands found that excess weight cuts years off your life.

• Adults 18 and older need 30 minutes of physical activity on five or more days a week to be healthy; children and teens need 60 minutes of activity a day for their health. Additional health benefits can be gained through greater amounts of physical activity.

• Obesity continues to climb among American adults. Nearly 60 million Americans are obese. More than 108 million adults are either obese or overweight. That means roughly 3 out of 5 Americans carry an unhealthy amount of excess weight.

• Moderate daily physical activity can reduce substantially the risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, such as colon cancer. Daily physical activity helps to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, helps prevent or retard osteoporosis, and helps reduce obesity, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and symptoms of arthritis.

• 37% of adults report they are not physically active. Only 3 in 10 adults get the recommended amount of physical activity.

• Poor diet and inactivity can lead to overweight/obesity. Persons who are overweight or obese are at increased risk for high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and some types of cancer.

• The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was nearly $173 billion in 2019 dollars. Medical costs for adults who had obesity were $1,861 higher than medical costs for people with healthy weight.

 

 

You have the power and control to make the dissensions in your life that could give you a good quality of life or even save your life.

 

By changing the you live and investing in your health now, you can change your personal health status in the future dramatically.

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