Recently I got an email from another NIFS employee with a link to the health rankings of each county in the nation. http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/indiana Any of you Fishers, Carmel or Noblesville residents should be proud to know that Hamilton County ranked #1 for health outcomes in the state of Indiana! I was just thinking the other day, as I was driving from Fishers to Carmel that it seemed like EVERYONE was outside either running, walking or biking. Even a really elderly man was out on a tricycle!
I think one thing that helps any county increase their residents' level of physical activity is having paved sidewalks. Fishers has an abundance of these that make it easy to plan out a route for running. On the flip side, the southside of Indianapolis where my mom lives, has practically NO safe or easy options for running. None of the main roads have sidewalks, so running in neighborhoods or at a park would be the only good option. Growing up in Greenwood, even in the nicer Center Grove area, I don't remember any sidewalks or great park areas on the southside either.
Obviously, the factor to consider is the populations that live in these different counties. Hamilton County is mostly comprised of young to middle aged families with 2.5 kids and a dog. Clearly these kinds of populations are more concerned with health for their families and engage in less risky behaviors, as opposed to more urban areas that have a wider mix of ages and races. And the other obvious factor is county size. Indianapolis just contains more people in general--healthy and unhealthy--so Marion County will have higher numbers for items like teen births and smoking, and therefore ranked 77th out of 92 counties.
The bottom line is that anyone can lead a healthy lifestyle regardless of where they live. Just because Scott County ranked dead last in health doesn't mean that those people are doomed. Sometimes it just takes a bit more of a personal effort though, and that's where people get lazy (or are uneducated) and perpetuate the cycle of an unhealthy culture.
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