The covid pandemic underscored the importance of physical and mental health.
Many people suffered depression, anxiety and/or a loss of physical fitness at some point during the past two years.
Getting regular exercise, eating a healthy diet and having constructive social relationships are important for your physical and mental health, of course. If you are suffering in any of these areas, don’t be afraid to ask friends, family, doctors, etc. for help.
Perhaps you’re wondering where in the country you can boost your health and wellness. Life Extension, a health and wellness company, ranked all 50 states for wellness, using 11 metrics across three main categories.
That includes physical and mental health (using data from the Centers for Disease Control), access to nature and parks (using National Park Service and Census Bureau data) and integrative health practices (using Google Trends).
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Research Metrics
For physical and mental health, Life Extension looked at the percentage of adults who reported:
· “No poor physical health days in the past two weeks;"
· “No poor mental health days in the past two weeks;"
· “Getting at least seven hours of sleep in the past 24 hours;"
· “Getting physical exercise in the past month.”
As for access to parks and nature, “spending time outdoors is inherently good for your health and is often associated with exercise,” Life Extension noted in its report. “So, we calculated the percentage of land in each state that is devoted to national parks.”
As for integrative health practices, Life Extension looked for where Americans searched for “key” wellness terms over the past year: “meditation, yoga, mindfulness, healthy diet, vitamins, and supplements.”
The List of States
As for Life Extension’s ranking, from the top it consists of:
1. California
2. Arizona
3. Florida
4. Washington state
5. Hawaii
6. Utah
7. Alaska
8. Wyoming
9. Washington, D.C.
10. New Jersey
The ranking from the bottom consists of
50. Alabama
49. Oklahoma
48. Louisiana
47. Arkansas
46. Iowa
45. Delaware
44. North Dakota
43. Nebraska
42. Kentucky
41. Mississippi.
