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Another argument for creating incentives — and opportunities — for employees to exercise: A Gallup analysis found that “for U.S. workers, exercising fewer than three days a week is more closely linked being obese — defined as having a Body Mass Index of 30 or higher– than any of 26 other behavioral and emotional factors, including healthy eating and having health insurance.”

The study of the “correlates of obesity is based on interviews with more than 139,000 American workers. It also finds that not eating healthy, not having enough money to buy food, not having a safe place to exercise, having a history of depression, and not visiting a dentist annually are all linked to U.S. workers being obese.”

Gallup also lists occupations ranked by obesity: “Transportation workers have the highest obesity rate among the 14 occupation groups measured, followed by manufacturing and production workers. Physicians have, by far, the lowest level of obesity, with business owners coming in second-lowest.”

In addition: “Highlights from how the 14 occupation groups perform on the strongest behavioral predictors of obesity among U.S. workers include:”

• “Physicians: This group boasts the lowest obesity rate and is in the best shape of all job types on three of the major predictors of obesity — having a safe place to exercise, the ability to afford food, and depression.”
• “Service workers: These workers perform worst on two of the predictors of obesity: struggling to afford food and depression, and tie with farmers as the worst job type for having a safe place to exercise.”
• “Farming, fishing, and forestry workers: This group performs best on two of the top predictors of obesity — healthy eating and exercise, which is likely due to the physical nature of their work. At the same time, they are tied with service workers as the worst job type for having easy access to a safe place to exercise, which may be due to having an outdoor work environment that could be dangerous.”
• “Other worst performers: Clerical or office workers are the least likely to exercise frequently, sales workers are the least likely to eat healthy, and construction or mining workers are the least likely to visit the dentist annually.”