Is Your Neighborhood Increasing Your BMI?

Recently, there has been some media focus upon the ranking of states and cities in terms of their health status. While these rankings seem rather trivial, for many homeowners and real estate investors, there is a general consensus that a state or city with a healthier "image" may produce a better result in terms of real estate values.

While we know quite a bit about neighborhoods and their relationship to disease, not much is known about the relationship between the neighborhoods you live in and how your body mass index may be affected. With some research, both cities and states are finding the body mass index of their citizen population may be fluctuating based upon the neighborhood mentality and culture.

Can your neighborhood really affect your overall body mass index? Absolutely. In fact, not only is your BMI affected, but your risk for diabetes as well as cardiovascular complications. Living in a neighborhood of lower socioeconomic class, you may find that you reside among individuals who have very little in terms of health and medical resource. In addition, nutritional deficiencies are quite common among lower socioeconomic neighborhoods as families often struggle to afford the purchase of high quality, healthy food products.

When your neighborhood exhibits characteristics lacking nutrition, lacking adequate healthcare and engaging in unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking, alcohol consumption and illegal drug use, studies have found that most residents also exhibit a higher than normal body mass index (BMI). Within these same neighborhoods, few individuals are found engaging in outdoor activities that are of aerobic benefit and often the recreational locations, such as parks and recreational facilities, are not well maintained.