Want to live with the healthiest people in the state? You'll have to move to Platte County in the Kansas City suburbs.
But if you're content to be in the sixth-healthiest county in the state, you're in the right place, Cole County residents.
Cole County has been ranked No. 6 of Missouri's 114 counties and St. Louis City, according to the ninth annual County Health Rankings. The report was presented by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institution and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
As we're writing this, USA Today is reporting the results of a new study showing "highly fit" middle age women are nearly 90 percent less likely to develop dementia decades later.
The study looks at everything from how long people live to imprisonment rates. It also considers smoking, drinking, exercise, obesity, having insurance, access to health care, and other factors.
The study then jumps from health care into a thinly-veiled political arena. It calls on communities to invest in education from early childhood through adulthood, increase supplemental income for low-income families, make affordable health care available for everyone, and engage youth in communities.
All great things, but all things that would require increased commitments of our tax money. Still, some may be good investments. Let your elected officials know where you think our monetary and health priorities should be.
Meanwhile, you can have a bigger impact over the health of you and your family by the choices you make. During your break, do you go for a smoke or for a walk? After work, do you pick up a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket or opt for a Grand Mac, the Big Mac's 860-calorie big brother.
Granted, there are factors out of your control when it comes to your health. But many - most, we would argue - are within your control. Likewise, doctors are important, but you are your No. 1 doctor. Doctors can diagnose conditions, prescribe medication and perform procedures. But no one knows your body as well as you do, and no one is in a better position to take care of yourself than you.
So, when it comes to your health, it really doesn't matter whether you live in Platte County, Cole County or - at the bottom of the rankings - Pemiscott County in the Bootheel.
What matters is how you take care of yourself.
News Tribune