“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1735
Imagine a world where most people just don’t get chronic disease in their lifetime? Is that possible? Of course it is. There are already places like that. The secret? Nip it in the bud before it starts. When most people think of preventative medicine, they think of making a well-visit to their physician once a year, getting a flu shot, taking a multi-vitamin, washing their hands properly and maintaining good dental hygiene. Then there’s the use of mammograms and colonoscopies to screen for cancers. After age 40, yearly blood tests should be routine.
As important as these are for early diagnosis of problems, none of these really prevents disease and illness on a grand scale. What can we do differently so that we can have true prevention?
Priorities
The United States spends over $4.1 trillion on health care per year. That translates into roughly $13,500 per person. How much of all this money is put toward prevention? 3% – that’s right, just 3%. It’s time to change our priorities and live a healthy lifestyle so we can stay out of the doctor’s office, stop supporting the pharmaceutical companies and have more productive and wonderful lives.
You don’t feel well. Perhaps you have a sore throat, fever, or stomach pain. Maybe your blood pressure is high, and perhaps you are having chest pains. You go to the doctor or urgent care to get treatment. This is typical of what medicine has become. Most doctors don’t deal with real preventative medicine.
But there is a real problem with this approach. About half of the deaths in the United States are due to preventable behaviors and exposures. So doesn’t is make more sense to put the emphasis on prevention?
Getting diseases as we age is not inevitable. Western living is synonymous with a sedentary lifestyle and eating what is convenient, not what is good for us. To reduce our chances of heart disease, cancer, infectious diseases, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes, we must take positive, preventative actions. What does a preventative medicine model look like?
Education
It is still surprising to me to see the lack of health education in our school systems. Even in first grade, children learn how to wash their hands and brush their teeth correctly. Usually a nurse comes into the classroom and explains on an elementary level proper technique and why taking care of our basic hygiene is so important.
As children get a little older, they can be taught about the basics of healthy eating. Fruits and vegetables are healthy; cake, potato chips and Doritos are not. Whole grains are better than refined grains. Eventually, they can learn the food groups and what basic nutrition is, and of course the basics of activity and exercise. They need to understand from an early age, the direct relationship between food and exercise and basic health.
At the end of the day, education starts at home, and that includes health education. If kids see parents adopt good health habits, they will emulate them. As far as our own homes, setting the proper example is imperative for parents. Are you serving fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes in abundance? Is there a limit on treats and junk food served at home?
If you are the parent, it is difficult and most likely detrimental to try to impose your will concerning healthy eating on your children. However, there are a few things you can do that will encourage better and more nutritious meals for your kids. Always have good choices available.
Your children might be used to coming home and taking a snack bag of chips or something similar, but if there are vegetable sticks and cut up fruit on the table, your children will eventually begin to sample them and even enjoy them. In the summer months, slices of melon and watermelon can easily take the place of candy and ices. The changeover won’t be instantaneous, but gradually, they will go for the healthier choices.
Practical applications
Practically, preventive actions range from not smoking, staying away from smokers, using seat belts and driving safely to alterations in diet, activity, exercise, and stress management. No one is going to be perfect, but if people come to understand the ramifications of both healthy and unhealthy living, they will weigh the pros and cons and come to understand that it is well worth the initial effort. Think about money and time, let alone quality of life. You won’t have to spend time going from doctor to doctor and test to test, and dealing with bureaucracy every time you need a test or a drug. You will be able to be more productive in your working or studying – and you will simply feel much better all the time.
It’s all important
The items we mentioned at the beginning of this article – well-visits to our doctors, good hygiene, diagnostic tests at various stages of life, vaccinations, and taking medication – are of course very important. However, we must prioritize learning what good health habits are, what good nutrition is, how to put exercise into our lives and learn a better way to deal with the stresses of life. If enough of us would take this on – and if our schools and work places would get on board – we could create an absolute health revolution. The savings in money, time, and the increase in productivity would make our lives so much better and “add hours to your day, days to your year and years to your life.”
The writer is a health and wellness coach and personal trainer with more than 25 years of professional experience, and has recently been appointed to the Council of the True Health Initiative. He is director of The Wellness Clinic and can be reached at alan@alanfitness.com.