POZ Community Forums
Off Topic Forums => Off Topic Forum => Topic started by: buginme2 on December 29, 2012, 10:39:39 am
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Men's Health magazine is at it again and listed the top ten healthiest cities and the 10 least healthiest cities.
Where is yours on the list and do you agree with it?
Healthiest
1. Boise, Idaho
2. San Jose, CA
3. San Francsico
4. Plano, TX
5. Seattle
6. Burlington, VT
7. Austin, TX
8. Salt Lake City
9. Madison, WI
10. Portland, OR
The 10 Least Healthiest
91. Tulsa, OK
92. Detroit
93. Columbia, SC
94. Cleveland, OH
95. Memphis, TN
96. St. Louis, MO
97. Toledo, OH
98. Charleston, WV
99. Philadelphia
100. Birmingham, AL
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50306865/ns/health/#.UN8OrXy9KK0
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not surprised the state capital of SC is #93. Columbia has the 6th highest rate of HIV infection in all of America (there are 5 other SC and NC cities in the top 25 cities with high HIV rates)
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Phila. second to last= LMAO!
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I don't doubt the general sentiment of this article (i.e. I don't doubt that male residents of Boise are, in general, healthier than their counterparts in Birmingham), but at the same time I question the methodology because there are more than 100 cities in the US which could, statistically, skew the results heavily in one direction or another. Where are all the other cities?
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These articles are fake - at least the arbitrary methodology - and done simply to boost clicks on the Men's Health Site.
I went ahead and looked at some of the full rankings and had to laugh. Charlotte is ranked as #33 healthiest city, while New York is ranked #34.
I just so happen to know these two cities like the back of my hand and not only is Charlotte not healthier for men than NY, Charlotte is no where near NYC when it comes to real health standards.
Charlotte's homicide and violent assault rate (per capita) is much higher than NYC; This is the land of fast food and deep fried everything; Charlotte is auto-orientated and people (generally) walk less in a week in Charlotte than one might in every two days in NY; Employment rates are higher in NY; ability to have access to social services is high in NY and almost nil in Charlotte; Charlotte has less access to medical services; less access to public parks; the list goes on.
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If healthy = wealthy then i can see why plano would be in the top 4. I live close to plano. Its not the wealthiest part of DFW, but alot of corporatations, upper-class familes.
Austin is a city of younger folks due to its more of a University town, so i can see it being in the top 10.
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Yeah, I can see Tulsa being in the bottom 10.
Oklahoma was the 3rd most obese state for many years - I believe it's 5th now.
And being a strong bible-belt state the attitude is "abstinence-only" or "head in the sand" sex education. Younger people I've talked to indicate that condom use is almost nonexistent here.
One of the gay bars in Tulsa was progressive enough to ban smoking inside the bar a few months ago...... I was there yesterday and noticed it's been reversed.
In my experience HIV care has been terrific in Tulsa (yay OSU), but maybe others have different opinions.
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Phila. second to last= LMAO!
This is why lists like this are for, well -- simpletons. Measurements of health in the US are tied up with income status, and class issues in the US generally correlate and/or are obscured by racial demographics. Compare the white v. non-white demos of the top and bottom 10 and you'll see what I mean.
Or put it this way, if you are a white professional that lives in Center City and peripheral areas in Philadelphia you'd score quite high on the health scale, especially considering that we have a high concentration of the best medical services in the country (if you have good insurance). Center City is also has one of the highest "biking commute" and walkability indexes of ANY downtown of over a million residents in the US. Bottom line -- if you live and work here (meaning Center City) you don't need a car, and when you don't use a car all of the time you don't end up being an obese, burger-eating Medicare scooter riding American.
And further proof that Men's Health is a useless rag at the bottom of the article it says "For more on the sources for our statistics and to see additional city rankings, go to MensHealth.com/metrogrades." and when you click the link it just takes you to a list of which cities you're more likely to have a car accident.
OMG I AM SO IMPRESSED WITH THIS THREAD. Silly white people.
ps: we do have a high homicide rate but I can plot out on google-maps the handful of drug dealing areas where this happens and to stay away from. 90% of shootings happen in these areas.