Australia’s Health Review

Right now is the time of year where personally and in business we visit our accountant to take a look at the past financial year, to discover the truth on how much we are really earning and whether we have invested well or over indulged in some areas.

Doing a personal or business health examination is no different. It is like getting an audit of the real story, and not what we imagine it is.

Below are some interesting facts of Australia’s state of health from the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics)

Alcohol and Obesity
More Australian adults were overweight or obese and more drank alcohol at risky or high risk levels in 2004-5 than in 2001, according to results from the 2004-05.

The proportion of adults classified as overweight or obese increased over the last ten years: for men from 52% to 62% and for women from 37% to 45%.

Medical conditions
2004-05, 77% of the population reported that they had at least one long-term medical condition, similar to the result in 2001.

High or very high levels of psychological distress were recorded for 13% of the adult population, similar to the levels recorded in 2001. Of all those who recorded high to very high levels of distress, 59% were female.

In 2004-05, 12% of Australian adults (approximately 1.6 million people) reported that they had a mental or behavioural problem. A higher proportion of women (13%) reported having mental or behavioural problems than men (10%) and this was the case in each BMI category. Of those classified as overweight or obese, 12% of men and 16% of women reported a mental or behavioural problem.

Nutrition and Exercise
The two most frequently reported lifestyle risk factors among adults were inadequate fruit or vegetable intake (90%) and sedentary or low level exercise (70%), and the most common pattern was to report them both, without also reporting smoking or drinking at risky levels (44%). In comparison to those classified as normal or underweight, adults who were overweight or obese were slightly more likely to report in this way (43% and 44%).

A majority of adults (90%) did not consume the recommended amount of fruit (2 or more serves) or vegetables (5 or more serves). This proportion was similar regardless of body weight.

Overview
Too many of us are crossing our fingers and hoping for the best, rather than accepting responsibility for where our health is at and actually doing something about it.
Making changes to your diet and how much you move does not have to completely change your lifestyle. It is really quite easy to get the recommended 30 minutes per day of exercise. Try breaking it down to 3 x 10 minutes or 2 x 15 minutes of walking.
Look for opportunities to move around the office or while you are on the phone.
Take the dog for a walk, kick a footy around at the park, dust off those tennis racquets or bicycles and head down to the park.

A healthy day of nutrition could look like this:
Breakfast: bowl of oats with milk
Snack: fruit and yoghurt
Lunch: 2 x wholemeal bread with lean meat and salad
Snack: Cottage cheese with crackers
Dinner: Lean meats with vegetables

The upward spiral of Australia’s worsening health status has to stop. It starts with you. Choose to be healthy. The right time to start is now. It is never to too late to have the health you have always dreamed of.

Chris Bakens