Form Healthy Habits or Risk Being Sick
Dr. Miguel Lorente
The U.S. has the most expensive healthcare in the word and is No. 1 in health care expenditures per person. Other countries don’t come close. When heads of state or foreign dignitaries need a heart transplant or bypass surgery, they often hop a plane to America. We’re good at organ transplants and separating Siamese twins. If your child is born prematurely, you want them born here. We’re good at keeping sick people alive.
What we’re not so good at is staying healthy. Even though we’re No. 1 in money spent per person, we don’t crack the top 10 when it comes to life expectancy. There are places in the world where people tend to live a long time. And they do it without dialysis machines and expensive medications. They live both longer and healthier lives with lower rates of dementia, cancer and heart disease.
The researchers who studied this phenomenon called these areas Blue Zones. There is also a book by the same name. The Nuoro Province in Sardinia, Okinawa (Japan), the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, Icaria in Greece, Acciaroli in Italy and the Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, Calif. are all places where people tend to live long, healthy lives.
The researchers found some common factors that account for the inhabitants’ longevity and health. They eat a largely plant based diet. They don’t smoke. They engage in fairly constant moderate physical exercise. They are socially engaged, family oriented and have a sense of purpose in their lives.
Forming healthy habits isn’t easy. The hard part is getting started and staying motivated. But after six months or a year, it doesn’t take nearly as much effort or discipline. In fact, a habit can be defined as a behavior that doesn’t take much mental energy to perform. Walking 3 miles a day or running 5 is tough for the first week or two. Do it for a year and it becomes harder not to put in the miles.
Ultimately, if we don’t make time to develop and maintain healthy habits, we’ll be forced to make time to be sick. Want to stay out of your local hospital or doctor’s office? Want more affordable healthcare for you and your loved ones? Don’t look to your politicians or healthcare executives for answers. Look in the mirror.
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