A Healthy Lifestyle will Save You MONEY

With all of the debate on health care raging, I would like to address one of the topics that I feel is under emphasized. Americans are taking too many medications. The average patient in my office over the age of 40 is taking at least one but often 3-4 prescriptions. The average person over 60 is generally taking more than 5. The majority of these medications are for cholesterol, hypertension and Type II Diabetes. These are all preventable diseases that are generally caused by living an unhealthy lifestyle.

Don't get me wrong, when these conditions exist, the medication is necessary and it saves lives. However, I think that the focus needs to constantly be on prevention and healthy living. Think how much money could be saved if the prescriptions were cut in half. Even if you have great insurance, premiums reflect the cost of insuring the general population. I truly believe that prescription medication costs are responsible for a large portion of the constantly increasing cost of insurance. Did you know that erectile dysfunction is directly related to high blood pressure and diabetes? We wouldn't need all of those corny commercials if we were a bit healthier. VIVA Healthy Living!

Staying on the topic of healthy lifestyles reducing prescription costs, let's talk about osteoarthritis. Obesity is not the only cause of osteoarthritis. However, there are a greater number of people with hip, knee and spine arthritis that can be directly linked to obesity. Putting too much strain on your joints will lead to arthritis. The easiest way to do that is to be overweight. Not only are your joints overloaded, they are often forced out of proper alignment by the extra weight. An over sized belly forces the low back to be over extended at all times. This pushes the weight from the vertebral bodies backward to the facet joints. Vertebral bodies are large and thick and designed to carry weight. Facet joints are about the size of your finger tip and are NOT designed to carry weight. A few years of that and they start to hypertrophy, or add bone mass. This causes spurring and reduction in the space for the nerves. Hips, knees and feet are all pushed out their proper alignment with excess weight, causing pain, inflammation and eventual permanent change to the joints.

The sad thing is that most people understand that being overweight or eating junk instead of healthy food is harmful. However, it is so easy and so ingrained in our existence, that all you get are excuses as to why each particular person cannot change. Even more tragic is the fact that this is what we are teaching our children! We are creating a generation of obese children or children who with their current habits will undoubtedly become obese adults. It has got to stop for the health of our country and the health of our insurance system. I don't care who is running it, there is no way that it will be affordable if every person is taking 10 medications! There is no doubt that things need to change, and we need to start NOW.