Stay fit and live healthy life free essay sample

The purpose of this MOU is to establish a general framework for the cooperating agencies to promote uses and benefits of State’s public lands to enhance physical and mental health and wellbeing of the population. Despite the growing body of evidence of the health benefits of physical activity, most New Jersey’s(NJ) adults and children do not get enough physical activity. This leads to one of the major health concern Obesity, and it also has important consequences on our state’s economy. Among all states in US, New Jersey ranks 4th in Obesity. 1 Further it is linked to number of chronic diseases like Heart disease, Arthritis, Diabetes, Stroke and many more. These diseases linked together, substantially increases the overall health maintenance cost. To address against Obesity, â€Å"Stay Fit and Live Healthy Life† policy takes all aspects of the life of NJ residents; their family, home and childcare. CDC’s (Center for Disease Control), and Department of Health and Senior services altogether with NRPA (National Recreation and Park Association), Office of nutrition fitness, Construction department, NJDOT (NJ Department of Transportation) and different stakeholders can make grants to communities and agencies to work on decreasing chronic disease, and increasing physical activity. We will write a custom essay sample on Stay fit and live healthy life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The most integral part of the Policy Plan is to increase the physical activity and make it a part of individual’s routine life. This can be done by educating communities on diet and healthy foods, promoting use of staircases instead of escalators and encouraging doing workouts. To increase physical activities, Parks, Recreation and Malls shall be promoted to build small outdoor gyms for adults children. Funding including taxes and other financial grants along with private grants must be identified to implement the plan. The department of Parks Recreation, Construction and health senior services must intervene and help with budgeting of equipment’s and set up of outdoor gyms. Background: 23. 7% of population in New Jersey is estimated to be obese in 2012 compared to 9. 9% in 1990 (BRFSS* report) 1. An adult is known to be obese when his/her Body Mass Index (BMI) is 30 or higher and an overweight when his/her BMI is between 25 30. *BRFSS –The behavioral risk factor surveillance system is an annual statewide telephone service system designed by Centers for disease control and prevention. Accordingly, 60. 7% of adult population and 31% of children (age 10-17) are considered to be overweight or obese with BMI of 25 or higher, in New Jersey. The main causes of obesity are sedentary life style (reduced physical activity), unhealthy eating habits and the influence of race, ethnicity and culture. Trend: More prevalence is noted among Non-Hispanics blacks at 25%, Hispanics at 19. 5% and Non-Hispanic whites at 17% in 2000. This health disparity in obesity is seen due to difference in race, culture, education and socio-economic status. The people with low socio-economic status and minority communities have less access to physical activity and its resources; hence have more prevalence to obesity. (Table 1) Effect on Healthcare Cost: The higher incidence in obesity has led to increase in incidence of diseases like type 2 diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease stroke, hypertension and arthritis. In New Jersey 440,000 people are estimated to be diagnosed as Diabetes and 178,000 have the disease but are unaware of it2. And approximately one in every three deaths from cancer is also because of obesity, poor nutrition or physical inactivity6. In all, New Jersey has spent $2. 3 billion in 2003 for medical expenses in treatment of Obesity-related diseases2. Along with the increase in cases of obesity, the annual health care cost is increasing at an alarming rate of 36% every year2. Current Policies against Obesity: New Jersey’s private and public sectors has taken collaborative efforts to address the obesity epidemic. They have implemented legislative policies in School and Communities care to address obesity11. School: 1. Competitive food sold in vending machines, school bake sales or school store, school lunches and breakfasts also has nutritional standards. 2. New Jersey has core curriculum standards for health and physical education that requires the student should have minimum of 150 minutes of health, physical and safety education per week in grades 1 through 12. Communities: 1. The NJDOT (NJ Department of Transportation) instituted a complete street policy that insures that all future roadway improvement construction projects will include pedestrian safety elements and components. 2. NJ menu labeling regulation requires restaurants with chains at more than 20 locations statewide to post calorie counts on their menus, menu-boards and drive through window items (P. L. 2009, c. 306). 3. NJ state law authorizes the NJ department of agriculture to implement â€Å"mobile farmers market† and â€Å"fresh produce voucher program† for residents of urban food desert communities (P. L. 2011, C. 223). *Food Desert: It is a district with little or no access to grocery stores that offer fresh and affordable foods needed to maintain a healthy diet. Besides these steps, some more initiatives are needed to be taken to address obesity, as it is been a growing health concern. Criteria of the â€Å"Stay Fit and Live Healthy Life† Policy Plan: The health wellness agency need to take of survey on obesity related diseases to understand the necessity of specific zones and communities of New Jersey. Based on the data collected, different state departments and stakeholders can take steps towards building of outdoor gyms. In all New Jersey have 36 state parks and 62 malls. Outdoor gyms may be built in most of the parks and large malls with an area of at least 1 million square feet. Outdoor gyms should be built such that it can withstand seasonal changes and require minimum maintenance. Outdoor gyms should also have privileges for disability. Budgeting and Funding are core part to enact the outdoor gym policy. On average it costs $40,000 $75,000 for an adult playground as compared 200,000$ for children12. Such adult playground has been quite a success in countries like China and Europe. This further attracted the American states like Los Angeles, California and New York. New York City developed its first playground in Macombs Dam Park in Bronx with a spending of $75,000 for a smallest one, with five pieces of equipment. Pros and Cons of Outdoor gyms: Outdoor gyms has various benefits most important one is that they don’t require monthly fees, making it a good resource of physical activity among lower socio-economic status population. Other pros and cons are: Appreciating Nature – Breathing clean air and while or performing fitness exercises offers some people a key reason to step out for exercises. Even in case of crowding in park gyms you may look out for alternatives like running, biking or brisk walking. Open air has health benefits such as morning sunrays act as a good source of Vitamin D supplements. But the use of outdoor gyms will be restricted in winter and to some extent in fall/spring. Cost Benefits for individuals – Outdoor gyms involve no or minimal financial cost as compared to indoor gyms. Traveling might be same as you travel to indoor gyms but it is beneficial for parenthood individuals as they may take their children to playground and also have some fitness time for self which involves no extra cost. Behavioral impact: This also involves a core part of behavioral impact, as always said children learn from their adults. Children will learn from their parents to do exercise as a part of routine. But this might be hazardous if a child tries to copy the adult and try to use adult playground equipment. To avoid such circumstances the state departments and health wellness agency together need to set appropriate safety precautions. Old retired people may make their groups and exercise at no cost, thus outdoor gyms are making exercises fun and accessible. Even at times when people get bored of shopping might take a break and use adult and children playgrounds at Malls instead of looking for unhealthy food options. Most of the outdoor gym equipment offers a mix of cardiovascular, weight-loss and core stability exercises for different body types and levels of fitness. There are certain aspects to be considered before constructing an outdoor gym (Safety measurements) are: The outdoor gyms should be made of rubber floorings. Prevent having heavy weights for exercises in outdoor gyms. In Malls a security person must be there for children playground. Malls and Parks for security must have video monitoring system for outdoor gym. Enough lighting at night time. Necessary precaution notes must be represented at every outdoor gym. All equipment must be regularly maintained. Another option that can be opted is, staircase use shall be promoted by providing incentives like having small discount coupon boxes hung on staircase walls in midway, in large and small malls. Most of the stores like CVS have coupon boxes or pamphlets within the stores instead they can build up small different boxes generating coupons of different stores throughout staircases. But this may lead to crowding of people on staircases and boxes and this will also intervene while people are climbing staircases. The financial responsibility shall be considered by the Mall maintenance cost. Alternatives Obesity is a chronic disease with a complex and multi-factorial etiology, involving biochemical, neurological/psychological, genetic, environmental, and cultural /psychosocial factors. There are many other alternatives which may be considered to address against obesity. The New Jersey Health Organization and NJ department of Health need to set standards to address against obesity for people having unhealthy eating habits because of biological factor, psychosocial issues or long term diet. Such obese patients are affected from Binge eating disorders. Health Physicians must try out rule out the cause in obese people, and start the treatment immediately with close monitoring; trying to uproot the disease from its base. Some privileges must be considered under the health insurance services (Medicaid and Medicare services) for binge eating disorder. The NJDOT along with the complete street policy must also institute to increase the number of bike lanes and street parking facility for bikes. The bike lanes should be drawn on streets with specific speed limit to prevent accidents, safety precautions must be considered and must be at a distance from highways, interstate or parkways. *Binge Eating Disorder – It is a disorder when a person eats excess amount of food and has no control over it. In America every single year 190-265 billion pounds of food is thrown away, it is half the amount of food what we produce13. There are many Non-profit organizations like City Harvest who redistribute the food among the needy. Along with this we may build up a Refrigerator bin where people can dump there excess raw food materials like vegetables, meat and fruits with proper packing. This bin is emptied on regular basis and the food will be redistributed among the needy. Thinking practically such bins might be good for residential areas than restaurants and food centers because of quantity. There are few drawbacks that must be considered, some might dump stale or spoiled which might spoil other food. Regular maintenance will be required. To develop such system a department of waste food management needs to be developed and enacted. The system will require enough of financial funding from taxes and grants. Recommendations: Obesity has been a prime concern in state of New Jersey and it is increasing in an alarming rate. Hence we need to address our best possibilities against obesity. The outdoor gym in parks and malls seems to be a best possible way to increase physical activity among state population. This is easy to maintain, mid pricey and source of entertainment and also promotes social life of an individual in the world of technology. Making exercises fun, accessible and affordable. The other alternative that strikes is building up of Refrigerator bins. It has few drawbacks and difficult to maintain but a trial and its survey won’t hurt. The department of waste management spends good amount of dollars for processing of waste food along with other wastes instead same dollars with some addition can be invested in redistribution of food. The prime part is maintenance and effectiveness of this policy.