Oklahoma City isn’t the worst in the country on a single measure of health. But the country’s fourth-oldest city is nearly the worst on a bunch of them: People here don’t get much exercise or eat many fruits and veggies, which accounts for poor blood pressure control and mediocre cholesterol levels. They also score poorly for oral health, which may help explain why they have high levels of C-reactive protein—a sign of inflammation, which can raise the risk of heart attack and other serious ills. The bright side: Their grim standings mean that they could cut their age substantially with a few easy moves. Making time for exercise would make a big difference, as would adding some greens (or produce of any color) to their meat-and-potatoes meals. A daily aspirin, if indicated, could lower heart risk without much effort. And a little flossing wouldn’t hurt, either. View Full Post

Tampa checks in as the third-oldest city in this year’s rankings, performing worse than average in 23 of our 28 categories. The habit that ages these Floridians most: Residents are more likely to smoke than inhabitants of any other American city, raising their risk for heart disease, cancer and dementia (and we could keep going). In fact, that single fault reduces life expectancy by an average of ten years. View Full Post