Editorial: Here’s to your health, Sonoma County!

Sonoma County’s got reason to preen in front of the mirror a little this week – we checked in as the eighth healthiest county in California.

The County Health Rankings survey is conducted annually by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, measuring a variety of health indicators from high-school-graduation rates to how long it takes us to get up from the La-Z-Boy to reach for the remote control someone left on the side table (longer and longer these days, according to foundation officials.)

Our biking-hiking-Pilating Marin neighbors to the south – where “never swallowing one’s pride” is considered a regional diet – finished No. 1 again this year, which only proves that feeling superior because you own a Prius can actually lower your cholesterol.

Still, as a regional comparison, we left plenty of other North Bay counties choking on some apparently unhealthful dust – including Napa (13), San Francisco (21), Solano (32) and Mendocino (35).

Most importantly, is the fact that Sonoma County is on the rise, health-wise, climbing four spots from last year’s slightly pudgy 12th-place finish.

The rankings are generated using federal and state data – such as incidences of violent crime, particulate matter in the air, unemployment rates and numbered of people insured – to gather a generalized look at the overall health of a county.

Among Sonoma County’s positive trends, according to the report, was a reduction in violent crime, fewer premature deaths (calculated by combining the total number of years residents died under the age of 75), and a lower number of preventable hospital stays – all positive indicators that we’re not thinning the herd unnecessarily. Still, we’re below the state average in deaths from injury, which means we still haven’t heeded our Mom’s advice about running with scissors.

More eyebrow raising, however, are areas where Sonoma County has regressed – unemployment and children in poverty. (We’ve also had a rise in sexually transmitted diseases, which some folks will blame on Airbnb vacation rentals, no doubt.)

And, of course, it wouldn’t be Sonoma if we weren’t among the “top” 22 percent in excessive drinking. (Here’s to you, Sonoma - clink!)

Still, county health advocates have a reason to be pleased with the promising 2015 results – the county set a goal in 2007 to climb its way to the top of the health rankings, and moving up by four spots into the top 10 is no small feat.

The top five, though, will be hard to crack, as wealth is a primary indicator of health, and Marin, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Orange counties are holding on to four of those spots, with outdoorsy Placer firmly in second. (Yolo and El Dorado are 6 and 7, respectively.)

So put away the decanter, Sonoma – suck in that gut and let’s see 20 laps. We can catch those slobs in El Dorado, I know we can!