Good Lifestyle

Residents of blue states live longer than their counterparts in the red statements of social programs and policies promoting health, a new study suggests.

The study (Published in the newspaperMilbank quarterly Tuesday) found that in the states where people live longer, there are more progressive policies, including stricter environmental regulations, legislation and stringent firearms security protections for workers. Minorities.

For example: California has one of the strictest average life expectancy in the country (81.3 years). He also had the most liberal policies in the nation in 2014, the last year of the study examined.

"The overall conclusion is clear: States that have invested in the social and economic well-being of the population by adopting more liberal policies over time tend to be the same states that have taken considerable gains in the expectation of life, "said the authors of the study.

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The results are not totally surprising for health experts. "Although the authors of the study note that they can not prove that state policies have caused the gap of life expectancy, the correlation is persistent on several states and several decades,"Los Angeles Times Tuesday.

For example:

• Connecticut's social policies have become more liberal in recent decades. Life expectancy increased by 5.8 years between 1980 and 2017, 80.7 years.

• Oklahoma has become more conservative. Life expectancy has increased only 2.2 years at that time, 75.8 years.

Americans dying young

Life expectancy in the United States decreased each year from 2015 to 2017, an anomalyWashington Post called"A frightful performance" No seen since 1915 to 1918, during the First World War (life expectancy has increased slightly in 2018, the last year for which numbers are available, but it is not clear if it is a trend.) Conventional wisdom It is that the opioid epidemic is to blame, but some experts believe a wider set of social problems and government reactions to them - can be responsible.

"When we look at what's happening with life expectancy, the trend is to focus on individual explanations about what Americans do," said Sociologist at Syracuse University Jennifer Karas Montez, Chief of the New study. "But state policies are so important. States like Connecticut invest in their population, invest in schools, establishing an economic floor for their workers, discouraging behaviors such as smoking that kill people. You have others. States like Mississippi and Oklahoma who do not do everything from this. "

A link to Coronavirus?

The study could attract more interest because of the ad hoc response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. In its first days, President Trump rejected a coordinated federal response, leaving individual states to define their own policies on issues such as social distance.

The first states to reach coronavirus earlier this year were blue states, including New York, New Jersey and Washington. Six months in the pandemic, these states have aroused the way of infection because of strict regulation, including locks.

This summer, coronavirus cases have increased exponentially. The overvoltage has been led by red states such as Texas, Mississippi, Florida and Arizona, which first took a more approach to lie-go to policies such as locking, The mask requirements and the prohibition of large gatherings.

As for yourself, do everything you can to prevent you from installing-Covid-19 in the first place: mask, make yourself test if you think they have coronaviruses, avoid crowds (and bars and evenings of the house), practice social distance, only run essential races, wash hands regularly, disinfect frequently affected areas and cross this pandemic with your healthier, do not miss these37 places you are most likely to catch coronavirus.