Iowa Learns it's More Healthy During Ames Blue Zones Project Site Visit

The State of Iowa has moved from 19^th healthiest in the nation to 16^th, Healthways announced Monday.

The rank is derived from the annual Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index, a daily survey of Americans' life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors, work environments and basic access.

The announcement came on the very same day that a team from , a collaboration between Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Healthways, evaluated Ames as to whether it would be a good Blue Zone Project Demonstration site.

Project Blue Zones plan to implement nine principles known to encourage longer happier lives in demonstration cities across Iowa to put the state No. 1 on the index. Ames is one of 11 finalists for the designation and received the first site review today. Officials met with community representatives throughout the morning and then toured the community the rest of the afternoon.

Demonstration cities will be decided in May.

According to the release from Healthways, Iowa's well being index score improved by .5 percent from 2010 to 2011, which was enough to move it from 19^th healthiest in the nation to 16^th.

Iowa increased in all six factors measured from 2010 to 2011 except for one, Life Evaluation. Iowa's numerical scores for each category follow below:

· Life Evaluation: 48.9, a decrease of 0.4 points from 2010;

· Emotional Health: 81.1, an increase of 0.4 points from 2010;

· Physical Health: 78.3, an increase of 0.3 points from 2010;

· Healthy Behavior: 62.3, an increase of 0.1 points from 2010;

· Work Environment: 48.4, an increase of 1.7 points from 2010;

· Basic Access: 85.4, an increase of 0.9 points from 2010.

The top 10 states in the well being index follow below:

1. Hawaii

2. North Dakota

3. Minnesota

4. Alaska

5. Utah

6. Colorado

7. Kansas

8. Nebraska

9. New Hampshire

10. Montana