This post continues with more research on states that rank the highest and lowest in health, education, a sense of well-being, and success for their citizens. Again, the pattern shows that, overall, the states that embrace traditionally liberal politics and policies have the healthiest, better educated, and happiest citizens.
From Health.com
On its own, where you live isn't enough to make you depressed. Personal circumstances and genes also play an important role in mental health, so an area that feels like a downer to one person may be home sweet home to another.
That said, mental distress is unusually and persistently common in some states, whether due to economic troubles, lack of access to health care, or other factors.
Using data from federal health agencies, Health.com has identified the 10 states with the highest rates of depression, psychological distress, and other indicators of poor mental health. Here they are, in alphabetical order:
Arkansas
Indiana
Kentucky
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
Oklahoma
Tennessee
West Virginia
Ten states that consume too much fast food:
Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, West Virginia.
The healthiest states, and the unhealthiest states:
"An alarming proportion of Americans are living with chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes, and many are also struggling with unhealthy factors—ranging from poverty to air pollution—in their communities.
The likelihood of experiencing these and other problems varies widely depending on where you live, however. The latest state-by-state health rankings, published by a group of nonprofit, business, and professional organizations, reveal some familiar trends:
The healthiest states in the nation tend to be found in the Northeast, while the least healthy are clustered in the Deep South and Appalachia. Vermont was again named the healthiest state—a spot it has occupied for six straight years, thanks in part to its low rates of infectious disease, high rates of insurance coverage, and ample supply of primary care physicians.
Rounding out the top five were Hawaii, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. (View the complete list.)
At the other end of the scale, Mississippi and Louisiana tied for last place. Both states have been among the bottom three since these rankings were first compiled, in 1990. Factors contributing to their perennial low ranking include high rates of obesity and diabetes and a large proportion of children living in poverty."
The Ten Best Educated States:
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Vermont
- New Jersey
- Virginia
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Minnesota
- West Virginia
- Mississippi
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Alabama
- Nevada
- Indiana
- Tennessee
- Oklahoma
15 comments:
A big plus for education the Ivy League. And a big minus for Granholm's "Lost Decade" in Michigan which shoved this blue state into the depression list with a bunch of other red states.
(IMHO: the fast food one is too much of a "food nazi" thing, and even shows some opposing relationship. Maryland, for example, highly educated and supposedly consuming too much fast food. I have a solution to the person who made that particular list: if you don't like fast food, don't buy it Problem solved).
Problem not solved. Eating TOO MUCH fast food is detrimental to one's health, which impacts EVERYONE's pocketbook, but more important, makes our population weak.
Showing which state eats the most fast food is hardly being a "food nazi," it is merely pointing out a fact.
"Too much" is moralizing. Anyway, I'd gladly pit someone who gorges themselves on "too much" McDonald's salads against anyone who eats a pile of slow home-cooked bacon fried up in a pan of lard in their own house anyday, on the health issue. The fast food list is the weakest link in your latest pile o'stats. I would think if you replaced it with something more meaningful, such as cancer rates, you might make a better case.
Eating fast food is like offensive shows on TV. If you don't want to eat fast food, don't, if you don't like what is on TV, change channels.
I know this requires taking some personal responsibility so maybe the federalists can outlaw fast food
dmarks, take the ten high fast food states and merge them with the states with the most uninsured. You are going to find a correlation.
That's going to create a strain on emergency room services.
I'd like to know who produces these findings? I have had a lifelong deep and abiding dislike and distrust of statistics.
I happen to have been born and raised in New York City and New Jersey by a middle-class family in comfortable circumstances, but my immediate family was by no means "rich."
While Manhattan and Brooklyn were for me magical realms of enchantment and endless fascination -- especially the former -- and my schooling in one of the superior suburbs of New Jersey along the life we led there was for the most part a privilege and a joy --, wild horses could not drag me back to RESIDE in either location, as they are today.
One must be very very rich or very very brave, indeed, indeed, to live The Good Life there these days. And frankly the quality of life WE enjoyed is no longer available for love or money.
That said, I shall always be grateful for having been brought up with access to the Juilliard School of Music and the best museums, restaurants, parks, theater, concert and opera, cosmopolitan life and fascinating cityscapes our country has to offer. I wish everyone could be so privileged as I was in childhood and adolescence!
However, having had a richly stimulating background and a wonderful family life means -- or should mean -- that one can make a satisfying life for oneself just about anywhere.
I certainly enjoyed my years in Illinois, Delaware and my present location very much. The supposed "limitations" of these less-sophisticated areas made it possible for me to use talents and implement ideas that would probably have been stifled, rejected and kicked to the curb in the super-competitive atmosphere of places like Philadelphia, Washington, DC, New York City, and Boston.
I imagine these comparative "studies" would produce a more honest, more realistic picture, if urban, suburban and rural areas were regarded as separate entities, which, indeed, they are.
Also -- and I know I am going to get "hell" for saying this, but it IS the truth -- in general the higher the percentage of blacks in any given area, the lower the standard of living and the scores on national tests are apt to be.
In truth The Eastern Seaboard -- for whatever reason -- has ALWAYS been far ahead of the rest of the nation.
But it ain't as good as it used to be. Any honest person who has lived as long as I have could see that very clearly with his own eyes.
As a country we are DECAYING. We are in DECLINE. Our years of ASCENDANCY as a great power are over.
Why that has happened is a matter for much concern and subsequent discussion. To DENY that it has happened is utter folly. What is considered "good" today in the field of education would doubtless have been thought inferior -- certainly "average" at best -- fifty or sixty years ago.
Inflation -- or a distorted perception of reality -- of one sort or another has adversely affected every sector of society, with the probable exception of performance in classical music and the wonderful advances we've made in celebrating a greater variety of great cuisines from all over the world. But even there "fusion" restaurants are busily bastardizing those elements, so the authenticity we've enjoyed to date may soon be lost and gone forever like so many other good things from the past.
FT: "One must be very very rich or very very brave, indeed, indeed, to live The Good Life there these days. And frankly the quality of life WE enjoyed is no longer available for love or money."
New York City is among the most expensive cities to live in in the world. But New York City is NOT New York STATE. Nor is all of Massachusetts as expensive as Boston is to live in.
I lived very comfortably in several cities and towns in Massachusetts, and am by no means "rich." My son lives in New York STATE and lives in a beautiful, college town community and has a very good standard of living, but is by no means rich either.
What these comparison do is show the quality of life.
I lived in Florida for 10 years. The weather was gorgeous] [except the dreadful summers, beaches beautiful, but other than that, there was little else.
I had to drive 80 minutes round-trip to get to a bookstore, the restaurants were mostly awful, and the opportunities for cultural enrichment and enjoyment were sparse. I never saw so many pawn shops in my life. Once you left the beach communities, all the eye could see for miles and miles were shopping malls and bars. No thank you.
I have a small apartment in Boston, but when I step out my door, I am 5 stops from Symphony Hall or the Museum of Fine Arts or, really, any other glorious offering Boston's cultural life offers [theater, ballet, opera, jazz, folk music, all of Cambridge! And then, free concerts at Jordan Hall on Monday evenings in the winter, and free concerts on the Esplanade featuring the Landmark Symphony Orchestra every summer, not to mention the performing arts that are offered right here in Boston's North End in the Prado and at Waterfront Park.
On your other point, Mr. Free Thinke, "...in general the higher the percentage of blacks in any given area, the lower the standard of living and the scores on national tests are apt to be."
I know you qualified your remark, but here are two statistics [but there are more] that belie it:
West Virginia's African American population is among the country's lowest at 3.5%.
Virginia's African American population is more than five times higher at 19.55%
West Virginia is the worst state for educational scores, Virginia is among the best.
When any minority is given an even chance to succeed, it can and it does.
I can easily see why the "Least Healthy State's" are the way it is.
I used to live in CT~ for over 36 yrs.
I moved to Nashville, right before Bush/Cheney stole the election. These Southern States are ALL run by the Corporations and also tax the groceries you buy. For a working poor Family, it's much cheaper to buy a bag of Fast Food than it is to buy the ingredients and cook it yourself!
Also, if you are stuck working for the Corporations, 8 times out of ten, they will make you work a split shift so there is no other way to look for a better job. Not that there are any out there. They all pay minimum wage or slightly higher, not high enough to keep you from living paycheck to paycheck.
It's a racket, and people have no choices.
maryb,
I'm sorry to hear your predicament. You're welcome to come here and join this community and discuss current events.
The only rule I have is that we treat each other with civility. No name-calling, taunts, or personal attacks.
Here's another blog I think you'd enjoy reading. She's a fabulous writer, does great research on all her subjects, and she lives in Tennessee.
mary b's post is worth attending to.
Too often folks who eat a lot of fast food are doing so because it's relatively cheap and filling.
It's easy enough to blame them for not eating a nutritious meal but it isn't always possible and regressive taxes like a sales tax on food (not in Massachusetts)just make the situation more difficult.
Ducky said:
Actually, if you check the highest uninsured states, only one of them, Texas, ends up on the list of high fast food eating states.
Click here
Also remember, lack of insurance doesn't mean lack of healthcare.
Shaw: I don't get it when people seem to be trying to prove that the more blacks a place has, the worse it is.
----
Mary B said: "I moved to Nashville, right before Bush/Cheney stole the election"
Sorry, they stole the election no more than Obama was born in Kenya. You might want to read the Constitution and see how the election process works in this country.
"These Southern States are ALL run by the Corporations..."
That's an evidence-free conspiracy theory if ever I saw one.
I happen to know several people who live in Tennessee -- one of them a prosperous retired conservative businessman from one of the many "nice" towns in Massachusetts whose wife still works as a hospital administrator -- and two others, who happen to be my cousins-once removed, both poor as proverbial church mice. they originated in New York City, but have lived in the Sunny South most of their lives.
All of these individuals are absolutely DELIGHTED with Tennessee, and have said moving there is the very best thing that has ever happened to them.
The businessman is a net friend known only through correspondence. Unfortunately his otherwise-idyllic retirement has recently been darkened by the diagnosis of a terminal illness, but that is irrelevant to this discussion. My family members and their spouses do not know him, or even know of him. They live on an entirely different socio-economic level, yet they too are very pleased with the opportunities the low-tax, pro-growth environment, and relatively affordable good real estate Tennessee accords -- and they have always identified themselves as Democrats. So there! ;-)
Part of the charm of Tennessee has to do with the friendly, open-hearted attitude of the people according to everything I've been told by those who presumably would know..
Two other sets of cousins have lived in the suburbs of Atlanta for many years. They're struggling to survive like most people, but wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
I know others who live near Asheville, North Carolina, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and in WIlimington, North Carolina -- three very different loci -- and again all three are refugees from the fiercely expensive, highly taxed, over-crowded, possibly over-rated provinces of the northeast, and tickled to death to be living in The South.
No one I know in Tennessee, Georgia or North Carolina misses "The North" one little bit.
I do, because of all the cultural advantages the great northeastern cities provide, but the hinterlands are no longer the drab, uncouth, redneck places beset with superstition they have traditionally been reported to be.
Frankly, I'll take anecdotal evidence from people I know well, like and trust over any pile of statistics generated by God-knows-whom, how or why any day.
It's a known fact that anyone with an agenda -- ti doesn't matter what kind -- can "prove" anything he wants to "prove," by manipulating statistics.
"Frankly, I'll take anecdotal evidence from people I know well, like and trust over any pile of statistics generated by God-knows-whom, how or why any day."
You wouldn't go to a doctor who thought that way, would you?
Anyway, you take that anecdotal evidence over anything else because it fits your worldview, and you, apparently, don't want anything else to intrude on it.
Fine.
People can talk themselves into believing anything so long as they don't have to admit they've made mistakes. I've seen this all my life.
I'm happy here in Beantown with all it advantages and even some of its disadvantages. It's like being with a lover, you enjoy the good and overlook the rest because the pleasures are so intense, one can live with the bothersome parts.
Don't get me wrong, Ms. Shaw. I'd love to live in Beantown. Just as I'd love to live in London, Paris, Washington, DC, or San Francisco. But one can't live everywhere, and I have had the great benefit of having been brought up in and around New York City -- a gift that lasts a lifetime. The same may be said of youth well spent.
I was only reporting what people fairly close to me have said about life in the South -- particularly Tennessee. It's a radially different place from what it was eight to a hundred years ago -- or even fifty years ago.
Everything you said about living with a lover is true of nearly every set of circumstances imaginable. One must learn to take the bitter with the better, or one is doomed to be forever disconsolate. I believe in "blooming" wherever you happen to be "planted."
"No matter where you go -- there you are," as Dr. Seuss so wisely and whimsically said.
As far as doctors are concerned, I like the older ones who would come to your house in the middle of the night, and hold your hand after giving you a shot till you got back to sleep. I prefer the paunchy old guys gifted with insight, a broad range of interests and greater humanitarian instincts much better than I do today's crop of agate-eyed, cold-hearted, money-grubbing clinicians who simply "go by the numbers," and push pills -- not that they don't have their uses in a pinch.
One of my uncles was a doctor, as I'm sure I told you, he was also a teacher of doctors who taught at Columbia P&S as well. He brusque, cheerless, captious and uncompromising with the family, but much loved by his patients and colleagues alike --and I suppose by his long-suffering wife as well. ;-)
I just don't believe that everything worth knowing can be weighed, measured, boxed up, learned, memorized and neatly put away on shelves for further use.
As an artist surely you must know that real life is infinitely more complex, more mysterious -- and enthralling -- than that.
I forgot to mention that my only brother lives in Tennessee.
I'm familiar with the state.
Also very close friends live in Louisville, KY, and I've spent time there as well.
I also have a daughter and family who has lived in Plano, Texas for a number of years.
I get around this ole country quite a bit. From Maine to Florida [sister, cousin, and two dear friends], to Tennessee, Indiana, Texas, Calif., Seattle. Loved visiting the Gulf Coast and all the sights there.
But, sigh, how much fun would it be to live in Paris or London or Vienna for a year.
I did have the great opportunity to live in Pietrasanta Italy for a month while working on sculpture in a bronze foundry there. Such wonderful memories...
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