20 (More) Random Health and Fitness Facts

Last year I wrote a post giving you twenty random health and fitness facts. Well, I figured it was about time I gave you twenty more. Take a look...

1. If all 600 muscles in your body could pull in one direction, they could pull 25 tons. Better get working on those pull-ups and lat pulldowns!

2. The word gymnasium comes from the Greek word gymnazein, which means "to exercise naked."

3. The human brain stops growing at the age of 18.

4. About 22% of America adults engage in regular, sustained physical activity for at least 30 minutes, 5 days per week.

5. According to one study, exercisers can improve their performance as much as 15% if they listen to music while working out.

6. Number of deaths attributed annually to diabetes: 280,000

7. Number of annual physician office visits related to obesity: 62.7 million

8. Number of obesity-related missed workdays every year: 39.3 million

9. Americans spend approximately $33 billion annually on weight-loss products and services.

10. In the early 1970's, there was not a single state in the U.S. with an obesity rate above 25%. By 2011, 42 states had reached that level of obesity.

11. The strongest muscle in your body is your heart.

12. After the age of 30, women lose at least .5% of their muscle mass every year.

13. About 90% of Americans eat more sodium than is recommended for a healthy diet.

14. According to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, 27% of young Americans are too overweight to serve in the United States military. On top of this, approximately 15,000 recruits fail their physicals every year because they are too unfit.

15. Also according the the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, by the year 2018 obesity will cost the U.S. approximately 21% of our total health care costs-- $344 billion annually.

16. Physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, according to the World Health Organization.

17. If you were to sit less, you could live longer. One study showed that sitting less than three hours per day could increase your life expectancy by two years.

18. The adult human heart weighs approximately 10 ounces.

19. In 2011, Maine residents filled their pharmaceutical prescriptions 20,578,961 times. The United States filled their prescriptions 3,764,698,318 times that year.

20. Studies show that approximately 30% of women are sedentary by the time they turn 44 years old.

Now what are you going to do? How about get up and take a walk...that's what I'm about to do!