July 23rd, 2012Top Story The Most Common Causes of Preventable Suffering (and Their Simple Solutions) By Adam Dachis On the whole, you're probably not as concerned about your health as you should be. At the same time, sensational news consistently scares us into thinking everyday actions are probably killing us. When statistics tell you that eating certain foods, using certain products, and sitting down to work is going to destroy your bodies, it can feel like there's no escape—but that's actually not true. Let's look at some of those daunting numbers, and consider just how easy it is to avoid becoming one of them. For the most part, health is a pretty simple affair. The problem is that lifestyle changes over several decades have changed the way we operate, causing us to make unhealthy decisions without really realizing it. This has caused a lot of unnecessary, preventable suffering over the course of our lives because we're not approaching our health in the right way. I spoke with my friend and medical student Yifan Xu, my lifelong dentist Dr. Wendy Bach, and fitness expert Roger Lawson to find out the easiest ways to avoid some of the most statistically common health problems. The solutions are easier than you think, and in many cases will make your life a lot easier in the long run. Note: While the tips in this article can help you make better choices about your health, it isn't a substitute for medical advice from a professional. Consult your doctor before making any significant lifestyle changes. Our bodies are all a little different, so it's always good to learn how your choices will affect you, specifically, before making them. Our Poor Diets Cause Serious Health Issues, Yet Are Easily Resolved with Small Social Changes The Problem: A poor diet is one of the most common problems in American, and it causes significant issues like type II diabetes. Most people don't realize what diabetes is capable of, but it's among the leading causes of several health issues such as adult blindness, heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, nervous system damage, and even depression. This all happens because we have trouble eating healthier foods and controlling our portions. The Solution: The easiest solution is cooking at home, but many people don't want to spend the time or think they don't have it. Medical student Yifan Xu suggests that you can fix this problem with a few minor social changes. Her first suggestion is to start a cooking club with friends and co-workers. Chances are you have a decent relationship with a few people at work, so talk to them about making lunches together. If you can get five people together, each of you only needs to cook enough food for everyone once a week and you'll all have a healthier, homemade lunch at work every day. It takes about as much effort to cook for yourself as it does for five people, so you'll be cutting down your workload by 80%. On top of that, you'll get to try new recipes and enjoy foods you may otherwise never experience. You can do the same with your friends and dinner. This way you get the social benefits of eating out and lessen the workload involved with eating in. There will be times, of course, where you will need to cook for yourself. In these instances, don't worry about complex recipes. Yifan reminds us that cooking never used to be such a complex ordeal. For the most part, people would take a bunch of ingredients in their homes, make a stir fry or soup, and flavor it with a little salt and pepper. One of my favorite simple meals is just vegetable stir fry with tofu (which is a very meat-friendly option, too). A little salt, pepper, and garlic make it taste great and it takes about five minutes to put it together. I found it very easy to motivate myself to cook these simple meals by realizing I get to eat much faster this way. Takeout requires a fair amount of driving where I'm from, and delivery is even slower. When my stomach wants food, eating in almost always wins out because I've found that it actually requires a lot less effort and time. A Sedentary Lifestyle Is Damaging Our Bodies Because Our Lives Are Too Convenient The Problem: We've heard so much about how sitting is damaging our bodies and earning us an early death that it seems easier not to think about it anymore. Nobody likes to hear that six hours of sitting increases their risk of heart disease by 64%, puts them at risk for certains types of cancers, and reduces their life expectancy by about seven years. Although a a standing desk is a great solution for some, it's a significant commitment that many of us don't want to make. The Solution: All you really have to do is just move around regularly and incorporate a little physical activity every day. Thirty minutes of walking around, doing yard work, or playing a sport for fun (rather than competition) is sufficient for your daily exercise. If you'd prefer to work a bit harder, there are effective exercise routines you can accomplish in 20 minutes. For an added bonus, fitness expert Roger Lawson suggests five minutes of simple mobility exercises in the morning and evening. These short routines will help keep you from stiffening up during the day as well as avoid back, leg, and other related problems in the future. To get yourself moving around a bit more regularly, however, is most easily accomplished by inconveniencing yourself a little bit. For example, talk to people in person in the office rather than sending them an email or instant message. Drink out of a smaller glass so you'll have to get up and refill it up more often. Roger suggest that when you park your car, park farther away so you have to walk a bit more. Also, drinking plenty of water will help you go to the bathroom more often and force you to get up. If you want to play a video game, consider something like Dance Dance Revolution or Dance Central as those games are fun and offer quite a bit of physical activity. (This is actually how I used to stay active during college.) At first a few more inconveniences will be annoying, but after awhile you'll get used to getting up to handle certain tasks. Sugary Beverages Are Riskier to Your Teeth Because of How You Drink Them The Problem: Although dental care has made great strides over the past few decades, your teeth aren't safe from the harm you inflict upon them even if you brush and floss twice a day. Dr. Wendy Bach, DDS, told me that the most common problems she's seeing nowadays revolve around coffee, soda, and sour candies. These things aren't just a problem because of the sugar, but because of how we consume them. The Solution: Because we don't just gulp down enormous amounts of either coffee (with cream and sugar) and soda over the course of a few minutes, the sugars stick around in our saliva during the day. To get rid of the sugar, Wendy suggests keeping a glass of water nearby and alternating between it and the coffee or soda. This way you'll wash the sugar out more effectively. When it comes to sour candies, however, this solution isn't sufficient as sour sugar has a level of acidity similar to a car battery. If you love this kind of candy and don't want to give it up, it's best to eat it when you can brush your teeth immediately afterwards. If not, simply limit your intake and the damage will be minimized. We Rely Too Heavily on Drugs and Too Little on Preventative Care The Problem: 74% of doctor visits result in drug therapy. Yifan believes this is due to our culture developing a habit of visiting the doctor when something is wrong rather than bothering with preventative care. This leads to higher prescriptions of pain killers for immediate issues, as well as other drugs to solve problems that may not have occurred if patients hadn't waited until an issue presented itself. The Solution: Yifan suggests that the simplest fix to making irregular doctor visits is to simply use your regular ones. Yearly checkups are often avoided nowadays and taking part in this regular, preventative care is important. She also recommends that we put less emphasis on requesting drugs and ask our doctors what lifestyle changes would help us avoid the issues we're currently facing. There is most certainly a place for prescription medication, but it's a bad idea to think of it as your first choice. Schedule doctor visits in advance and make time to go for a checkup at least once per year. Life may be busy, but this is a very small and important commitment. Special thanks to Yifan Xu, Roger Lawson, and Dr. Wendy Bach for their contributions to this post. Photos by Dick Thomas Johnson, Dano, Be.Futureproof, Sara V., and viktordekabr (Shutterstock).

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