New Jersey is pretty healthy

There’s another study out about the healthiest states and, as usual, New Jersey fares pretty well. This one is from LetsGetChecked and used data from various governmental sources, including the CDC, across eight categories to determine the rankings.

The categories include the rates of alcoholism, obesity, smoking, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), diabetes, depression, hypertension, and physical inactivity. New Jersey ranked 39th overall; not too bad. We did particularly well in depression (47th), cigarette smoking (45th), and STDs (43rd). We didn’t do so well in physical inactivity (8th) and hypertension (19th). In the rest of the categories we’re somewhere in the middle: in excessive alcohol consumption we’re 27th, in obesity we rank 38th, and in rates of diabetes- 31st. Utah was determined to be the healthiest state overall, followed by Colorado, California, Idaho, and Hawaii. As usual, southern states occupy the bottom of the rankings: Louisiana is 50th, joined by Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky.

Now, I know what you’re wondering: which state was the worst for STDs? Our most northern state, Alaska, gets to claim as the capital of STDs in the US. Next is Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, South Carolina, and New Mexico. One of the reasons given for the disparity in the rates of STDs from state to state is the prevalence of sex education; the states with the highest incidence of STDs have the least amount of education. West Virginia is the fattest state while Colorado has the most fit residents, ranking as the best for obesity rates and physical inactivity.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.