The Fat of the Land

Are you tired of hearing how obese Americans are? Get ready for the next round. News reports out today conclude that obesity rates are still on the rise in the United States.

You're most likely to find a fat person in Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama, all of whom average about 30 percent of their population in the "obese" category. The skinny folks live in Colorado and Utah.

An interesting conclusion of the latest study from the Trust for America's Health: The poorest states have the greatest numbers of obese folks. Apparently, eating healthy is expensive.

So all of the hype on this topic over the past couple years and we're no closer to a solution. Can that be possible? It would be difficult to find any single medical malady facing Americans that has had more ink and air time devoted to it. What, are people just ignoring the reporting? Do they just discount the statistics that reveal higher rates of just about everything bad for people considered obese?

The solution to this health crisis seems to continue to alude us a society ... probably because obesity is such a personal issue. It would be different if the U.S. Congress or your local city council could pass a law banning obese people. That's not likely to happen, so the solution remains in impacting the personal choices of individuals.

Radio, television and newspaper appear to be doing a poor job in this particular endeavor.

Weclome!

If you're reading this blog or reading it at this location for the first time, a hearty welcome to you! Some of you are long-time readers, others are just discovering The Wahl Street Journal.

Whichever category you fall into, be sure to stop back often for a bit of entertainment and education on any number of topics that will find their way into this space.

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Wake me when it's over!

I completed a health assessment form recently and several of the questions dealt with sleeping habits. "Do you fall asleep when you sit down to watch television?" "Do you sleep while riding in the car (when someone else is driving, of course)?"

Heck, these days I can fall asleep almost anywhere, including sitting on the john, in a crowded airport or the kitchen table. I'm assured repeatedly it's a function of age, but I know other people my age who aren't habitual sleepers.

It would be different, I suppose, if I awoke rested and revitalized but unfortunately, all too often I wake up after 20 minutes or eight hours or even 10 hours and feel just about as tired as I did when I nodded off.

Each time I fall asleep and wake up not knowing where I am or what day it is, I hark back to my days in high school and college. Sleep was a minor detail. In college, I could operate on four hours of sleep and not miss a beat.

My first job was working as a generalist with a small newspaper chain. One of my many jobs was to drive newspapers from the printing plants to the various post offices in the small towns along the road in central North Dakota. I was usually on the road by 1 a.m. and my journey ended usually as the sun was rising.

I can't recall ever being tired on that schedule. Today, I would have to a sleeping bag in the truck and stop every 15 minutes for a snooze.

The worst part of needing more sleep these days is that I sometimes feel like I'm missing out on things when I sleep. Who knows, someone might discover a cure for cancer, and I would have been sound asleep. I can' t think of.....................................................


Whoops! Sorry I fell asleep there for a few minutes.