Over the weekend, Rick Majerus, college basketball coach, passed away. Coach Majerus had ongoing heart problems and died of heart failure at the age of 64. He had been overweight for many years, and unfortunately it finally caught up to him.
This served as a reminder to me what terrible shape our nation is in as a whole. For some reason we are worried about a lot less important things than our health. Since the hot topic seems to be the economic state of our nation, let’s look at our health from a purely financial point of view.
USA Today found that obesity costs an extra $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men. When you factor in earlier loss of life, it goes up to $8,365 for women and $6,518 for men. I actually think this is low because it did not mention anything about increased health insurance, which factors in BMI*, and extra medical bills that could possibly occur from general decreased health due to the extra weight.
An article by CNN in 2010 stated that a research study “found that indirect and direct costs of obesity is as high as $147 billion annually” based on 2006. I guaranSHEED that number has increased considerably.
Now imagine investing more in your health now to prevent future expenses that would occur with weight related problems. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out investing $1000 a year now to prevent $2000-4000 in expenses later is a smart thing to do. You also can’t put a price tag on the increased quality of life and added years to spend with your family.
I know what you are thinking, you are suggesting people to spend more on exercising because that results in people like me having more work. While this is true, it is hardly my motive. I find it sad to see the direction our country is going. I think it is terrible that 33% of children are overweight or obese and are set up for a life battling a weight problem because of the lifestyle that has become the norm in America.
If you don’t know the steps to take or just need accountability, spend the money to get the proper guidance. It will be the smartest investment you have ever made.
*BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It is used to classify a person based on their height and weight. Average is defined as 18.5-24.9. Overweight is 25-29.9. Obese is 30 and above. It does not take into account muscle mass so it can be misleading.
Barrett Stover 