The Situation

It seems that nobody took the bait on my last post and answered the question about what the South American tribe did in response to their problem: Did they rebuild with concrete, move, poison the bugs, or do nothing and die early? They decided to do nothing and take the chance of dying early!

I want to give you a little true or false quiz:

1. The #1 concern of drug companies is your health. True or False
2. The #1 concern of stockholders of drug companies is your health. True or False
3. The #1 concern of stockholders of drug companies is to permanently fix your problem. True or False
4. The United States is 37th in health and longevity in the world. True or False
5. The United States is 4% of the worlds population. True or False
6. The United States consumes 43% of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. True or False
7. Most drugs have no side effects. True or False
8. In the U.S., between 100,000 - 150,000 die every year of improperly prescribed drugs and surgery. True or False
9. In the U.S., 500,000 men and 500,000 women die each year from cardiovascular disease. True or False
10. My insurance company will pay all my bills and pick an MD to make me healthy. True or False

Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Do you know what the number one killer in the world is today? Time Magazine called it "The Stealth Killer." Cardiovascular Disease, or CVD happens so insidiously that the first sign we have, many times, is sudden death. Hopefully, in this series, I can help educate you on why this is the case. I know you remember the newsman, Tim Russert. People Magazine revealed that Russert had a stress test at the end of April 2008 which was "normal". Russert's physician, Dr. Michael Newman, stated that "normal" meant that "At a high level of exercise he had no symptoms." He also said that Russert's blood pressure and cholesterol were "well-controlled" and that he exercised: in fact he worked out on a treadmill the very morning of his death. He died Friday, June 13, 2008. It was said that not only did Russert pass his stress test in late April but he could passed one an hour before his death!

Russert's case is not an isolated one. That is the frightening thing about this disease. There are many contributing factors to this phenomenon: lifestyle, diet, congenital factors, environment (just to name a few).

So this is the situation. Exactly how big is this health challenge we face in the US today? Next time, we will look at some facts that will perhaps show the extent of the challenge and then, in subsequent posts, we will begin to look at the science behind the problem and the solution.

Education is the key to finding a resolution to: The Situation.

Are You Hurtin' Enough to Move?

In October 2009, Alex Guerrero published an article in the publication To Your Health titled "Playing to Win: Injury Prevention Is the Key". The article was about the San Diego Chargers running back, LaDainian Tomlinson, who, at that time, with almost 12,000 rushing yards (he finished the year with 12,490), was well on track to becoming, in Mr. Guerrero's words, "the National Football League's most prolific runner."

The article actually focuses on LaDainian's philosophy of how to win: paying attention to safety and preventing injury. This is done by training in order to be and stay in shape, regular exercise to discover any weak areas of the body, and being smart about how much you do, insuring that proper recovery is a part of the schedule. It's an excellent article and I have barely brushed the surface of it. You can find the article readily on the internet.

The point I want to make about this article is in the title: "Prevention Is The Key". In my previous post I introduced you to an allegorical poem written in 1895 that epitomizes this point. We can save ourselves so much time, money and effort if we would just focus on preventing things from happening rather than cleaning up after the fact. Disease prevention should be the main focus of the medical community. I agree that we need cures for the diseases we battle that are so debilitating. But I contend that if just half of the money and effort was expended toward prevention, which includes education, we wouldn't have near the number of occurrences of those same diseases. It makes me so mad that I didn't know that I shouldn't eat the way I ate as I was growing up. It makes me mad that I didn't know the effects that stress could have on my body physically. If I had known these things, along with others, I fully believe I wouldn't be a diabetic today.

The story is told of a South American tribe in which everyone was dying by 30 years of age. Scientists were brought in to investigate as to the cause. What they found was that a small bug that lived in the mud of the huts of the tribe was the culprit. The Chief of the Tribe was given four choices: Rebuild with concrete, move, poison the bugs, or do nothing and die early. Do you know what they decided to do?

And then there was the hillbilly, sitting on his front porch with his old hound dog. One day a city slicker drove up and asked for directions. The hillbilly asked the visitor to "come on up and sit a spell" with him. As the two sat and pondered the universe, about every five minutes the old hound dog would let out a big yelp. Finally the city slicker asked the fellow what in the world was wrong with his dog. The hillbilly answered, "He's layin' on a nail." "Why doesn't he move?" "Well," came the reply, "he ain't hurtin' enough to move!"

If you really believed that you could do something to improve your health, would you act on that belief? Are you hurtin' enough to move?