Health Habits Among Americans

 “Health Behaviors of Adults: United States,” published by The National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports that among American adults during the period 2005 to 2007:
• Unhealthy behaviors included:  Overall, 1 in 5 U.S. adults had five or more drinks in a single day at least once in the past year; 1 in 5 adults were current cigarette smokers; 4 in 10 adults were physically inactive in their leisure time; 1 in 4 adults were obese; and about 3 in 10 adults averaged 6 hours or less of sleep in a 24-hour period.
• Healthy behaviors included:  Overall, about 6 in 10 adults had never smoked cigarettes, about 3 in 10 were regularly physically active in their leisure time, almost 4 in 10 were of healthy weight, and about 6 in 10 usually slept 7 to 8 hours in a 24-hour period.

Noting that “It is the fourth report since 1997, when the NHIS began collecting annual data on health behaviors to examine variations in these key health indicators among important population subgroups,” the authors underscore that: “ Since 1997, rates of cigarette smoking have declined by several percentage points, rates of obesity have climbed, and rates of alcohol use, leisure-time physical activity, and sleep have remained relatively unchanged.”