A pessimistic view, but probably a realistic one too. Thus, the best way we can cut down on healthcare costs, both for ourselves and for our taxes, is to take better care of ourselves and prevent getting the big money ailments in the first place. The other obvious benefit is that we'll feel better in the long run.
Here are my doctor's recommendations towards that end, copied and pasted directly from the e-mail he sent. They are listed in order of most lives saved to least, though they are all important. Some might require a good amount of willpower, but see what you can do. Feel free to pass them along, if you are so inclined...
1. Stop smoking. On average every other smoker dies of smoking. Worse still, heavier two pack per day smokers are at 140 times the risk of lung cancer and respiratory failure. In 1990 a Hopkins study showed smokers take twice from a healthcare system what they ever contributed. Even then, 440,000 smokers and 40,000 smoke-exposed family members died of it, many times this number had strokes, heart attacks, bypasses and cancer. Chantix has been even more successful than bupropion in helping chronic heavy smokers quit and quickly pays for itself, and insurance coverage has been good.
2. Drop the weight. We should not weigh more than 125 at 60 inches, or 185 at 72 inches. We get 5 pounds an inch in between. At 35 pounds overweight we are at 87% more risk. Above this we are obese and not just big boned or full figured.
3. Stop drinking. 200,000 people a year die of alcohol. Any alcohol is a stroke risk and one serving a day for a woman increases her risk of breast cancer 50%. If you want stress relief, try exercise.
4. Get fit. 260 minutes of vigorous exercise a week, less than 5 hours in a 168 hour week, cuts the risk of death at least 5 fold over being sedentary, even in our 50s through 70s. The best frequency is at lest 20 minutes twice daily. Get a stress test first.
5. Eat fish 3 times a week. This cuts the risk of death at least 5 fold compared to never eating fish. Try fish oil capsules if even tuna won't do.
6. Cut the salt. High salt diet causes hypertension. An extra half teaspoon of salt [4.5g] expands the blood volume by 7% and we hang onto a kilo of salt water for 3 days.
7. Show up for annual blood pressure checks and follow hypertension closely. Even 135/85mmHg confers twice the risk of 125/75. 155/95 is 4 times the risk. Only physician-office measurements predict the risk, not home ones. Sorry, that's the data.
8. Get to goal on cholesterol. Heart disease progresses at an LDL of 95 and reverses or stops at 65. Statins are generic, well tolerated and eliminate that extra 67% risk.
9. Skip the glucose bombs: white bread, white rice, mashed potatoes, corn and table sugar. Instead, have limited amounts of oats and barley. Only 4% of people are off the hook on this one. A hemoglobin A1c of 6.2, or an average glucose of 136, confers twice the risk of stroke and heart attack. Diabetics over an average of 150 are at 5 times the risk of the 'lucky' 4%. Limiting calories in primates extends life spans: try 1800 a day.
10. Treat sleep apnea, which confers 2 to 5 times the risk of sudden death. There's a similar extra risk of stroke and heart attacks with repeated bouts of low oxygen overnight.
11. Treat asthma, especially with magnesium and inhaled steroids and rescue inhalers to prevent young respiratory deaths.
12. Get mammography at 50. Finding a cancer under 10mm is 90-95% curable and waiting until 15mm lets it travel to lung, brain and bone.
13. Get colonoscopy at 50, 40 with a family history of colon cancer. Removing polyps prevents 90% of colon cancers.
14. Accept the digital rectal exam annually, age 45 to 75. This detects prostate cancer early, while a PSA is insensitive.
(Song reference: "Afternoons and Coffeespoons" by Crash Test Dummies)
