Every year, the United Health Foundation publishes its state health rankings, a report of data collected on 23 measures of health compiled by different federal agencies. The rankings take into account behavioral, socioeconomic, and other factors that predict good health of a state, like rates of binge drinking, smoking and obesity, and factors like air pollution, violent crime, childhood poverty, and low rates of health insurance.

Between 1990 and 2000, health measures improved, but over the last decade that improvement slowed. In 2011 there was no improvement. The poor economy has been blamed, a factor that may influence poor health habits. Overall the report finds that 27.5 percent of the population is obese, 17.3 percent smoke cigarettes, and 8.7 percent have diabetes, all preventable contributors to poor health.

The five most unhealthy states:

50. Mississippi

49. Louisiana

48. Oklahoma

47. Arkansas

46. Alabama

The five healthiest states:

1. Vermont

2. New Hampshire

3. Connecticut

4. Hawaii

5. Massachusetts

For the full report, click here.

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If the harmful health effects of smoking aren’t enough to get you (or someone you know) to kick the habit, how about what it will do to your looks over time?

This link to the WebMD slideshow “Surprising Ways Smoking Affects Your Looks and Life” might make you think twice about lighting up.

The need for nicotine in cigarettes is a physical addiction, involving chemical changes in the brain that encourage nicotine craving. When quitting, it can be helpful to detox the body with nutrients that help reduce the desire to smoke, reduce stress, and promote respiratory health. Look for a three-part smoker’s cleanse that can help you through this difficult (yet REWARDING) process. Quitting today is the best thing you can do for those you care about, and yourself.

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As if smoking isn’t bad enough for your health, researchers recently discovered that cigarettes are “widely contaminated” with hundreds of species of infectious bacteria… yuck! Not only that, but they think those bacteria are somehow able to survive the smoking process, which means it’s not just smokers who are affected, but people exposed to secondhand smoke may be at risk too.

Talk about an eye-opener! When I heard the story I can’t say I was shocked, but it was interesting to learn that even though scientists knew they were going to find bacteria in cigarettes, even they were surprised that most of those bacteria are infectious to humans—like clostridium, klebsiella, and pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause damage the lungs, urinary tract and kidneys… holy smokes!

More research is planned to find out just how these bacteria affect human health, so it will be interesting to see what they learn. And in the meantime, do you really need any more reason to quit smoking???

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cigarettes, clostridium, contaminated, infectious bacteria, kidneys, lungs, pathogenic bacteria, quit smoking, secondhand smoke, smoke, Smoking, urinary tract