6 Steps to Healthy Living and Disease Prevention
There are 6 things that you need to do to live healthy, prevent diseases, increase your longevity, master health care and just feel better. You may already do some of these things, but chances are you can improve in each one:- Get your health screening tests (see health screenings for women or health screenings for men). Lots of people have weird logic around health screening tests. They say things like “I don’t want to know if something is wrong with me.” This, of course, is ridiculous (but understandable). These tests are specifically chosen because catching the specific illnesses early can make a huge difference in the course of the illness and can even work as disease prevention. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not recommend tests that don’t matter to the health outcome. So be sure to have these tests done. If you need help finding a doctor, try this guide to doctors in your area (choose the specialty “preventive medicine,” “general practice” or “family practice”).
- Don’t smoke. Really, just don’t smoke. It is simply incredible how much smoking shortens both the length of a person’s life and the quality. If you do smoke, quitting is your number one health priority. Try these smoking cessation resources.
- Be Active. Keeping yourself healthy means moving and using your body. There are standardized exercise recommendations for people. Exercise has a number of benefits, including improving your sex life and giving you more energy. Work exercise into your daily/weekly schedule for years more life.
- Eat Healthy. Sure, we all know that we should eat a healthy diet, but did you know that adding just 2 servings of fruit and vegetables a day could increase your life expectancy? Building healthy eating habits is possibly the single most important thing you can do to protect your health, prevent disease and minimize the severity of any conditions you already have. Besides, once you get used to healthy foods, they taste better and give you more energy than all the processed junk foods out there (really, you just need about a week of no cheating to start feeling the difference).
- Lose Weight. I was going to write “stay at a healthy weight” but since 70% of U.S. adults are overweight, chances are you can stand to lose a few pounds. Turns out that losing weight isn’t as hard as everyone makes it out to be. If you switch out processed foods for fresh produce and get rid of sodas and other sugary foods you can save hundreds of calories a day. Start there.
- Take Your Medicine. There are some wonderful preventive medicines out there like statins (which lower cholesterol). These medicines can prevent heart attacks and even help reverse illnesses. For example, men older than 45 should talk with their doctor about taking a daily aspirin to help prevent heart disease (men younger than 45 with high blood pressure, high cholesterol diabetes or smokers should talk to their doctor about it too). Everyone should stay up-to-date with their immunizations (most people 50+ should have a flu shot each year and most people 65+ should have a pneumonia shot). What is amazing to me is that so many people do not take advantage of what preventive medicines have to offer. People will take their medicines for a few months and then just stop. It is astounding. If your doctor has suggested a preventive medicine, take it. By doing so, you are getting the full advantage of our high-tech scientific medical system. You will likely live longer and better. That’s pretty amazing for a little pill.
Getting Started With Disease Prevention
Start your disease prevention program by picking one of the items above each week to focus on. During the week, do your best to optimize that aspect of disease prevention. Some weeks will be easy (like “Take Your Medicine”) while other weeks will be harder (like lose weight). Keep working until you can cross off an item as “mastered.”Source(s): Men: Stay Healthy at Any Age—Your Checklist for Health. AHRQ Publication No. 07-IP006-A, February 2007. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthymen.htm.
Women: Stay Healthy at Any Age—Your Checklist for Health. AHRQ Publication No. 07-IP005-A, February 2007. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthywom.htm.
