Americans are practicing fewer healthy habits than they once did, according to an 18-year study of 15,000 people published in the The Journal of the American Medical Association.

In the 18 years from 1988 to 2006, the percentage of obese people increased from 28 percent to 36 percent; the number of people who exercised 12 times a month or more dropped from 53 percent to 43 percent, and the number of people eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily decreased from 42 percent to 26 percent.

“This is somewhat of a report card on how we are doing today compared with 18 years ago,” says lead researcher Dana E. King, M.D., a professor in the department of family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. “The results are about a C minus.”

There is no mystery behind the increasing rates of diabetes and high blood pressure since they are directly related to healthy habits, the researchers say. But it’s never too late to change. By living a healthy lifestyle, you can produce profound effects on your overall health and even extend your life, they add.

‘We need to get back to the basics of healthy lifestyles and not take the easy way out on pills,” King says

Knowing when flu is serious and requires medical attention could save your life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu warning signs that warrant urgent medical attention include:

In children—fast or troubled breathing, skin turning bluish or gray, persistent or severe vomiting, being unusually hard to wake up, not interacting, extreme irritableness, and flulike symptoms that improve but then return with fever and a worse cough.

In adults—difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen, persistent vomiting, sudden dizziness, confusion, and flulike symptoms that improve but then return with fever and a worse cough.

Global warming is the biggest health threat of the 21st century, according to public health officials.

“This is a problem that affects the entire planet, and the longer it takes ‘us,’ the people on this planet, to take action, the more difficult it will be to resolve the problem,” says Kirby Donnelly, head of environmental and occupational health at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health. “We urgently need to take action to try to reduce emissions and move toward taking more significant action to reduce global warming.”

Some health consequences of climate change include a rise in insect-borne diseases such as malaria, heat waves that kill more people, and more gastroenteritis and malnutrition from water shortages and falling crop yields.

© StayWell Custom Communications. Information is the opinion of the sourced authors and organizations. Personal decisions regarding health, diet, and exercise should be made only after consultation with the reader's own medical advisers. This material may not be reproduced for redistribution without written permission from StayWell Custom Communications.