Health & Wellness in Santa Fe

Santa Fe was rated America's Healthiest City by Organic Style magazine in September 2003. With a long tradition as a healthy city, Santa Fe's modern technology, combined with many alternative therapies, has helped to establish the city as a center of healing of body, mind and spirit. Numerous massage therapists and holistic and traditional healers of all kinds make Santa Fe their home.

SANTA FE NAMED FOURTH HEALTHIEST SPOT IN U.S.

AARP The Magazine has ranked Santa Fe fourth in its annual list of the Top 10 Healthiest Cities to Live and Retire. The report, which the magazine said is its most popular annual feature, identified the healthiest cities using a number of measures of vitality, including the physical aspects of the communities (clean air and water) and the health and habits of people who live there.

The magazine highlighted Santa Fe's healthful environment, noting that it has been ranked No. 2 in the U.S. in air quality by the American Lung Association. It also noted that its rates of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol are among the lowest in the country, in part, said the report, because of a city-funded health campaign aimed at older residents.

The top three healthiest cities were Ann Arbor, Mich.; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Madison, Wis. Also in the top 10 were Fargo, N.D.; Boulder, Colo.; Charlottesville, Va.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; the San Francisco Bay Area; and Naples-Marco Island, Fla.

The report also examines which cities excelled along more specific parameters; Santa Fe made one of these lists as the second 'skinniest' city, with an average body mass index of 25.5. The skinniest of all was Boulder, Colo., with an average body mass index of 24.94.

Additional information about this year's selections can be found in the September/October issue of AARP The Magazine or online at www.aarpmagazine.org.

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people aged 50 or older.