Dallas County Living Well Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 13

How We’re Killing Ourselves by Not Making
Small Adjustments to Improve Our Health
By Dr. Tyler Cooper
So the question is

If simple changes can make dramatic differences in one’s
health, why aren’t more people fit? Why are we seeing so
much obesity and disease?

T

wo-thirds of Americans are overweight or
obese and a shocking one-third of our children
are. The sad fact: this leads directly to diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease
and many kinds of cancer. The reason for this
obesity epidemic is simple: Americans are eating more and
more of the wrong kinds of foods and exercising less and
less. As a result, we’re not just lessening the quantity of our
years; we’re lessening the quality of our years; we’re winding up prematurely in wheelchairs or in nursing homes or
just unable to participate fully in activities.
Our culture encourages this. We drive more and walk less.
Huge portion sizes have become the norm, and instead of
taking responsibility for our health, we succumb to quickfix fast foods laden with fat, sugar and salt. In short, our
sedentary lifestyles and deficient diets are slowly killing us.

Now for the good news
At Cooper Aerobics, our focus is prevention—and it has
been for the last 45 years. My father, Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, known as the ‘father of aerobics’ introduced this concept of preventive medicine in 1970 and we continue to
be an international authority to inspire health and wellness
now and into the future.
As fitness increases, the percentage of health problems
goes down and the quality of your life goes up—way up.
By making simple adjustments to your life, you can increase
your life span and live a happier, more fulfilling life.
For example, by exercising just 30 minutes a day, you can
increase your longevity up to six years and decrease your
risk of all-cause mortality by 58 percent!
Our research shows some significant quality of life benefits.
By becoming more fit, you’ll also have less likelihood of
depression. You’ll delay by at least seven years the age
at which you develop even minimal disability. You’ll lower
your risk of excessive bone loss, and have 25 percent less
musculoskeletal pain. What’s more, you’ll increase your
wealth assets by nearly $12,000 on average if you’re a
woman who reduces her BMI by just 10 points––$13,000
if you’re a man. Exercise and a healthy diet can even slow
age-related mental decline.

I believe the main reason is that most people don’t truly
understand the correlation between fitness and the quality
of life. They don’t understand that it’s not just about dying
young––it’s about not being able to fully participate in life
while you’re still alive.
Another key reason people don’t