Seattle Culture
Washington State Ranks No. 4 for Health and Wellness
Washington’s fit bit
By Rob Smith December 1, 2022
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2022 issue of Seattle magazine.
Big data says you love the outdoors. You exercise regularly and have an almost religious commitment to vitamins. You have a keen focus on integrative medicine.
A comprehensive survey by Life Extension.com finds that Washington state ranks a lofty No. 4 in the United States for health and wellness. The Florida-based wellness company examined CDC data around mental and general health, exercise and sleep; Google trends data related to wellness over the past year; and the percentage of national parks in every state.
Washington scored near the top in several categories, including percentage of adults who regularly exercise (82.2%), the percentage of the state covered by national parks (No. 9) and Google searches for wellness-related topics. The state scored poorly, however, for mental and physical health as measured by the low percentage of adults who reported no physical or mental health concerns over a two-week period.
Maybe the rainy spring has something to do with that. The report notes that the top three states, California, Arizona and Florida, respectively, are among the “sunniest” in the nation. Four of the five bottom-scoring states are in the South.
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