This past week community members from a five-county area gathered in Brookhaven at the United Methodist Church to take part in a community health advocacy-training program. The discussion is an effort to build a grassroots campaign to institute wellness across our state.

University of Mississippi Medical Center Chief Community Health officer Michael L. Jones told the gathering that, “Mississippi is pretty much number one in everything that pertains to health problems.”

My curiosity was piqued. I love statistics and wondered, are we actually number one? Is Mr. Jones shooting us straight?

An Internet search indicates Mr. Jones was close in saying we are “pretty much” number one. To be truthful, however, we are not number one alone according to The United Health Foundation rankings. We are actually tied for number one with Louisiana.

Running a close second, or third depending how you look at it, is Arkansas. So it “pretty much” looks like our little corner of the nation, “pretty much” has the corner on health concerns.

We also “pretty much” have the corner of good home cooked food as far as I’m concerned. But that is the topic for another column. Here I want to look at the health concerns we are facing and where does Mississippi, and more specifically Lincoln County, rank.

From the statistics provided by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation county health rankings, it looks like we in Mississippi are about twice as likely to die before the age of 75, than are those meeting the national benchmark.

I guess that is to be expected if we’re ranked at the top of the unhealthy list. Here in Lincoln County, we have a slightly higher incidence of a premature end than do our fellow Mississippians.

To clarify, the national benchmark means to be in the top 90 percent.

So what’s taking us down?

Obesity for one. Lincoln County mirrors the state with an obesity rate of thirty-six percent. More than a third of us here in Lincoln County tip the scales with a body mass index of 30 and above. That’s a five-foot eight-inch person weighing in at 197 pounds.

Going hand in hand with the obesity epidemic is the lack of physical activity. Thirty-five percent of Lincoln Countians over the age of 20 report no leisure-time physical activity. That’s two percent higher than the state average and a whopping 14 percent higher than the national benchmark.

Lincoln County ranks slightly better than the rest of Mississippi when it comes to smoking cigarettes. Twenty percent of our local neighbors smoke compared to 24 percent statewide and only 13 percent nationwide.

Surprisingly, when it comes to excessive drinking, statistics show 10 percent of the population here in our “dry” county report excessive or binge drinking compared to 11 percent statewide.

Excessive drinking reflects the percent of adults that report either binge drinking, defined as consuming more than four (women) or five (men) alcoholic beverages on a single occasion in the past 30 days, or heavy drinking, defined as drinking more than one (women) or two (men) drinks per day on average. The national benchmark is seven percent.

Our motor vehicle crash death rate in the county is 3.4 times that of the national benchmark and about 21 percent higher than the statewide average. Sexually transmitted infections are eight times the national benchmark, and our teen birth rate is nearly three times as high.

And the list goes on and on. I applaud the efforts the concerned citizens that that are taking a proactive role in addressing this epidemic of unhealthy lifestyles.

We should all be so concerned to work toward changing attitudes about the health of our community. With the beautiful weather these days, go take a walk, ride a bike, and when you get back, eat a turkey sandwich and give unsweet tea a try for a change.

Rick Reynolds is president/publisher of The Daily Leader. Contact him at rick.reynolds@dailyleader.com.