Your health: Holiday decorating injuries are on the rise

When 'ho-ho' turns to 'oh, no!'

Twisted ankles and backs, cuts, scrapes, bumps, bruises and electrical shocks are just a few things that can go wrong when people start putting up Christmas decorations, the Times Record reports.

According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, holiday decorating mishaps send more than 15,000 people to their local emergency room every November and December.

The Electrical Safety Foundation International estimates that more than half of the 5,800 people who seek emergency room help for injuries from falls while decorating their homes for the holidays are injured in falls from outside ladders or rooftops.

Due to the risk, some people hire professionals to put up their holiday lights and decorations.

"We have many people say they just don't want their husband getting up on a ladder anymore," said Joe Valentini of Holiday Illuminations.

How healthy are Illinois residents?

A new report by 24/7 Wall St. ranked the diets of each state. So where did Illinois place? Around the middle of the pack at 23rd.

To rank the diets of each state, 24/7 Wall St. constructed an index based on five behavioral factors, including vegetable, fruit, and soda consumption by adults and high school students.

A smaller share of Illinois residents drink soda (or pop as some of us call it), compared to the national average. Some 22 percent of state high school students report drinking at least one soda a day compared to 27 percent of students nationwide.

The state has a tax on both soda sold in stores and in vending machines, which may have helped lower the consumption of soda, the study notes.

Here in Illinois, we do seem to like our fruit a bit more than the rest of the country. The percentage of those studied consuming fruit at least once daily in Illinois is 63.3 percent, the 16th highest. Nationwide, 61.5 percent of American adults consume fruits once a day.

The percentage of those studied in Illinois consuming vegetables at least once daily is 76 percent, the 20th lowest. Nationwide, 77.6 percent consume vegetables daily.

Illinois's obesity rate is roughly inline with the national rate, with 29.4 percent of the state's adults living with obesity compared to 28.3 percent of adults nationwide.