As I write this commentary, we are ending the first month of 2007 and so far so good at the Edney home. I have enjoyed wishing my patients a happy New Year and happy to declare that we indeed have made another year by the grace of God. As I reflect on the many life and health issues in my life and that of my many patients, I truly understand how it is only by the grace of God that any of us were able to survive another year in this fallen world. When I review the various diseases and conditions, which affect my patients, it also becomes evident how little most of us do to try and be alive for another year.
Of the top five health care problems confronting me on a daily basis as an American physician, all of them have a strong association with unhealthy lifestyles. These include heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, and cancer. Of course, there are many other diseases that fit this description, but simply focusing on these five and changing people’s behaviors impacting these five would revolutionize the health status of our country.
So, what’s the problem? Very simply, we as Americans seem to be convinced that we are immortal. As a nation, we are approaching our healthcare the same way we are handling our finances. Just as the majority of us are splurging on material pleasures by using credit inappropriately, we are postponing concern for our long-term health for another day. It is as if we are using a “good health credit card” and living any way that brings us pleasure while delaying the pay off for as long as possible. For many of us, our “Good Health Credit Card” is well above its limit and threatening to CANCEL US. Unfortunately, we are not able to do “debt consolidation” or perform a “balance transfer” to another card. Our bodies are the only “account” we will ever have on earth. Knowing this fact, how do we work ourselves out of the life and health debt hole? We do not have the option to declare bankruptcy and start over with the protection of the court. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able and declare Chapter 7 against lung cancer or file chapter 13 against end stage diabetes with secondary blindness and kidney failure thereby wiping the slate clean with our health? Sorry, God has not so allowed which leaves us with limited options. We actually must decide to exercise discipline and discernment in our life choices if we are to live as healthy a life as possible.
Accepting this truth, here are some important decisions to make for this New Year. First of all we must confront our mortality and realize that the number of our days are limited just as are the dollars in our bank account. This means we need to be the best stewards of the health of our bodies as we possibly can. By doing the following suggestions faithfully, you can compound the health and wellness benefits much like the effect of compounding interest in your investment account. First decision is to evaluate for substance abuse. If you use any amount of tobacco in any form then you are a substance abuser and cessation of tobacco use will likely be the most powerful health improvement factor of all. However, we need to evaluate other substances such as alcohol, caffeine, and even sugar. Tobacco use, especially smoking, has incredibly powerful negative consequences affecting virtually every organ system of the body. Smoking either directly causes or aggravates many various health issues such as cancer of the lung, colon, bladder, throat, tongue, stomach, and others. It is strongly associated with stroke, heart disease, and peripheral vascular disease. It clearly aggravates osteoporosis, gastric reflux disease, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, and even causes worsening of chronic lower back pain. It is easy to see that by eliminating this one behavior one can positively impact one’s health in multiple ways.
The second major decision for all of us should be our eating habits. Unless you are on a prescription diet by your physician (such as a diabetic diet), the key principle is moderation. Eating is a major part of our lives occurring multiple times every day. God designed our bodies to enjoy eating and we can gain much pleasure from eating properly. Because of this fact, I rarely recommend strict dieting and do not endorse fad dieting, as you cannot realistically maintain this style of eating. However, moderating calorie intake downward and making wise food choices with reduced fat, cholesterol, sodium, concentrated sweets, and simple carbohydrates will have a very positive impact on health as well as weight control.
Decision number three works synergistically with number two and that is exercise. Likewise the important concept with exercise is moderation. I instruct all of my patients to start their exercise program by going “low and slow”. That is to start with a relatively low impact activity (i.e. walking) and begin with a short time duration. Most people fail with their exercise routines because they are confronted with needing to do thirty minutes of aerobic activity three to four days each week. The negative psychological impact defeats most people before they even start. However, we all literally can get started by exercising five minutes three to five times per week doing an activity that is enjoyable to prevent boredom. This will establish your exercise routine as part of your week and will protect you from injury or excessive soreness, which also causes many to quit early on. As you establish your exercise routine, you can then slowly increase the amount of time and the level of exertion until you are at your doctor recommended levels. The importance of exercise regarding your wellness is several fold. By performing aerobic exercise, you increase your metabolic rate thus burning more calories over the course of the day, including while sleeping. Exercise helps to preserve bone and joint health and is critical in treating osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, chronic back pain, and even depression. It also has a powerful impact on your sense of well being via endorphin production. The combination of healthy eating habits and exercise do act in synergy by multiplying each other’s effect which allows one to do both in moderation rather than crash dieting or living in the gym.
Decision number four should focus on preventive health care. This should be done in consultation with your physician, which means you need a regular doctor. The value of having a physician who knows you and your health care issues is invaluable and may actually save your life. It is not uncommon that because of a long-term doctor-patient relationship that I am able to identify an issue for my patient that left untreated could result in their death. The worst time to establish a relationship with your doctor is by meeting him or her in the ER or ICU. Regular check ups and physicals allow you to work with your physician to protect you from serious health problems before they make you sick. Think about this. Do you drive your car as hard and fast as you can with no maintenance other than adding fuel or do you change and rotate your tires and change the oil, etc? How much more infinitely valuable is the health of your body than the health of your car? Mammograms, colonoscopy, bone density screening, blood pressure checks, blood work (i.e. glucose, cholesterol, PSA), pap smears, and many other health activities are of great importance in protecting and maintaining your health.
We will close with decision number five although we could continue for many more. This decision is associated with number four but deserves its own attention. That is vaccination health. Vaccinations are one of the most important advances in the history of medicine. Polio, mumps-measles-rubella, and diptheria-pertussis-tetnus vaccines have virtually eliminated the death and suffering that was simply part of living in the pre-vaccine world. Now these diseases are so rare that it makes it difficult for doctors to recognize them when they do occur. 36,000 people die every year from common influenza with the vast majority not being vaccinated and the pneumovax, commonly called the pneumonia shot, has prevented millions of cases of life threatening pneumonia. We now can vaccinate against hepatitis A and B preventing cirrhosis and liver failure and most recently the herpes zoster vaccine to protect against debilitating shingles. Obviously this is part of good preventive medicine and is another aspect of regular check-ups with your doctor.
Five key decisions which if implemented could and should drastically improve your long-term health and wellness. Why not take some time and pray about these issues in your life and the lives of your family. Should you be convicted to focus better on these issues, a great place to start is with a visit with your doctor to establish a safe and healthy game plan especially for you. By doing so, you certainly can have a happy and healthy 2007.
May God bless you as you process these decisions and may He bless your new year.
Dr. Dan Edney
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