State of Play

Study Shows where you live can have a significant role in how long you live.

BY CELIA SCOTLAND

It’s not news to report that Florida has a healthy—as in “large”—number of older residents. We are the home of The Villages, Sarasota and Boca Raton, after all. However, despite being a preferred place to live for seasoned citizens, a recently released report claims Florida is far from the best choice for living out one’s golden years. According to the 2022 Healthy Aging Index, an annual survey that aims to highlight specific improvements that individual states could make to support healthy aging, the Sunshine State ranks 30th out of 50. Florida trails places like Delaware and Pennsylvania due to a lack of regular exercise by residents, high divorce rates and high levels of loneliness.

The Healthy Aging Index analyzes five fundamental pillars of health—including demographics, economics, behavior, healthcare services and mental health. Within these five categories, the study collects and examines data from 25 indicators that are interrelated and work together to provide an overall measure of healthy living across the country. For example, just because a metro area may have a cutting-edge medical community (as Northeast Florida does), it doesn’t mean the region is particularly healthy. A variety of factors play a role, ranging from the natural surroundings of where one lives to the amount of exercise regularly undertaken to the quality of education people attain. In fact, being happy in your relationships is shown to result in longer, more enjoyed lives.

“A recent study from the US Medicare Health Outcome revealed that marriage has a protective effect and increases life expectancy. Moreover, a recent literature review revealed that the conservative estimate of the net increase in life expectancy with physical activ- ity is about 2-4 years but presumably even greater because of the positive influence of physical activity on major risk factors for mortality,” says Supriya Lal, RD, a health advisor for the Aging Index survey. Florida did rank well in terms of lower-than-average suicide rates, personal consumption expenditures and excellent healthcare availability.

According to the study, the five highest-ranking states for healthy aging are Utah, Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Minnesota. Coming in at the bottom of the rankings are Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, West Virginia and Mississippi. Despite spending the most on healthcare in the world, the United States falls behind other world leaders in life expectancy rankings. After a historic drop in 2020, life expectancy in the country took another hit in 2021, mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And while life expectancy in other

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