Rebounding to better health in the new year — and beyond

We all know about new year resolutions and their short life expectancy. Yeah, we’ll exercise more, eat less, and do all that other good stuff. And then inertia sets in, and nothing much happens.

Can this year be different?

The coronavirus pandemic has taken a sustained, terrible toll on Americans’ health. U.S. life expectancy has plunged, our deaths still exceed norms, and other important measures of our nation’s health have headed in the wrong direction. Sure, many of us are struggling back toward full normalcy. But collectively we also must recommit to greater personal wellness — not just to eke our way back to our pre-pandemic best but to exceed it and to address glaring shortfalls we might have ignored a few years ago.

Getting healthier doesn’t have to be a grim, consuming chore with heavy doses of sweat and tiny doses of foods we love.  Instead, consider the evidence-based recommendations of experts — including leading advocacy groups for disease care — for common-sense ways to feel better, be fitter, and improve the odds of avoiding costly illness. Let’s jog through at least five ways to be healthier this year and far beyond …

A good night’s rest plays a big role in keeping us healthy. That’s an idea gaining support from medical scientists, and endorsed, with special emphasis, in 2022 by the American Heart Association.

The group added sleep to its list of important ways for folks to avoid cardiovascular conditions, stay healthier, and live longer, the Washington Post reported. The association has focused on behavioral and other factors for some time now to battle the leading cause of death in this country: heart disease.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that almost 700,000 Americans died of heart disease in 2020. The ailment costs the country $230 billion annually. The heart association experts added sleep to the “Life’s Essential 8” list of safeguards, reporting this in an article published in a medical journal:

“Although there is a paucity of evidence indicating that improving sleep duration or quality reduces [cardiovascular disease] incidence, several other lines of evidence support its connection with [cardiovascular health]. For example, laboratory studies show that experimentally manipulated sleep affects blood pressure, inflammation, glucose homeostasis, and other relevant factors. Larger observational studies show that small changes in sleep at the population level are associated with changes in [cardiovascular disease]-related risk factors. Research indicates that real-world manipulation of sleep time is possible and that therefore sleep time is modifiable. Last, a limited number of studies demonstrate that real-world sleep manipulation is associated with changes in [cardiovascular disease]-related risk factors.”

The newspaper translated the research language into easier reading, thusly:

“Sleep has long been considered vital to good health, both physically and psychologically. Sleep gives the body a needed break to heal and repair itself, setting people up to function normally when they awaken. But a lack of sleep (or poor-quality sleep) puts a person at higher risk for such conditions as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and more.”

As the Washington Post also reported of the heart association and its views on healthful zzzz’s:

“The group’s suggested goal is seven to nine hours of sleep daily for adults, and more for children (eight to 10 hours for 13- to 18-year-olds, nine to 12 hours for 6- to 12-year-olds and 10 to 16 hours for children 5 and younger).”

Researchers at the nonprofit, independent RAND Corporation are building evidence of sleep’s importance and how slumber — or the lack of it — affects everything from the academic performance of teenagers (who may need later school start times) to the physical and mental health of (sleep-deprived) African Americans. The researchers have tried, too, to quantify in economic terms how poor sleep and sleeplessness take a staggering toll exceeding $400 billion annually.
 

Experts advise, in general, that those who wish to optimize their sleep should do so with key steps: Turn in at roughly the same time in the evening – every day. Turn off electronic devices — including the TV, smartphones, digital tablets, and video and other games — long before going to sleep. Keep the room dark (don’t leave lights on), cool, quiet, and calm. Limit your eating and consumption of intoxicants (alcohol and marijuana) and stimulants (caffeine-filled sodas, tea, or coffee) before bedtime. Set the alarm and try to wake at roughly the same time each day. “Sleeping in” on weekends is a bad idea.

Graying fitness buffs may recall the boom days of amateur running, as promoted by best-selling author Jim Fixx. While jogging enthusiasts once thought nothing of trying to match Fixx’s regimens of 5- and 10-mile daily runs, popular media and many experts have reset their discussions — greatly. 

And it’s not just because Fixx dropped dead of a massive heart attack at age 52 while jogging (likely related to a family history of early heart disease). Rather, the research is showing you don’t have to necessarily burn so much shoe leather to get to a good place health-wise.

Look at popular media reports and the emphasis for most people no longer even necessarily focuses on exercise as much as movement and satisfaction or even joy, rather than accomplishment.

As many of us set our 2023 health goals, trendsetters are emphasizing the value of limiting  sedentary time, breaking up long periods of sitting with any kind of movement, or, optimally, engaging in bursts of intense, energetic activity. Picking up the pace, even briefly, can have measurable benefits, studies show.

Younger people still may pursue vigorous pastimes, including running or participating in an array of organized sports or other heartbeat-raising activities. But for many people, a satisfying way of improving health may turn on daily walks — and not necessarily for the mythical and oft-unattainable 10,000 steps (as recorded on ubiquitous electronic devices that folks strap on these days).

Whatever your preferred activity to maintain and improve your heart, circulatory, and lung health, don’t forget the benefits of stretching and staying limber and including muscle resistance or strength training in your wellness plans. As the New York Times reported of one study on longevity and various types of fitness programs:

“After adjusting for factors such as age, gender, income, education, marital status and whether they had chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer, researchers found that people who engaged in one hour of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity a week had a 15% lower mortality risk. Mortality risk was 27% lower for those who did three hours a week. But those who also took part in one to two strength-training sessions per week had an even lower mortality risk — a full 40% lower than those who didn’t exercise at all. This was roughly the difference between a nonsmoker and someone with a half-a-pack-a-day habit.”

Americans may have reached a milestone in their obsession with diet, weight control, and health. That’s because the care for diabetes — a leading killer in this country, as well as a prime cause of blindness and limb loss — is undergoing big changes tied to new, improved drugs. Pills now can play a big role in helping patients and doctors battle the excess weight that is a destructive part of diabetes. 

The Washington Post explained that these now-pricey prescription diabetes meds, which can help patients lose as much as a quarter of their weight, were “developed to mimic naturally occurring hormones that increase insulin production and suppresses appetite. The drugs, which include active ingredients such as tirzepatide and another molecule called semaglutide, work on brain receptors that signal satiety, creating a feeling of being full even when patients eat much less than usual, but enough to stay healthy.”

It’s a complicated issue. But these drugs, besides potentially worsening economic inequities in health care, may force the public to rethink their views about overweight friends, colleagues, and loved ones. The pharmaceutical advances may slash the stigma about excess weight and get regular folks and medical experts to see obesity not as a failure of will or self-control but instead as a chronic illness or condition.

That may be key to dealing with a serious health concern that the  federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates afflicts 40% or more of all adults: obesity.

For now, the American Diabetes Association and other health advocates say that all of us should know that sustained individual efforts can lead to weight loss and its maintenance, with significant health benefits.
 

The consensus recommendations change little and can be summarized: Eat less overall. Consume more plants, sustainable fish, and nuts. Reduce your intake of meat, pork, sugar, salt, and highly processed or commercial foods (including restaurant meals) that feature less healthy portions and ingredients. Skip the fast food and eating on the run. Instead, take time to cook (simply) and dine with friends and family.

In the year ahead, fitter folks will want to maximize their perception of the wonders of the world by ensuring they take good care of their sensory capacities. This means getting quality testing, care, and assistance with hearing, vision, and senses of smell and taste.

Researchers are showing that hearing and vision are crucial not only for young people’s academic success but also for seniors’ avoiding isolation and cognitive impairment.

It can be daunting to deal with the cost of corrective gear. While a big part of eyeglasses’ steep costs can be blamed on market consolidation (too few companies make lenses and frames and market them with hefty markups under many different brands), consumers are finding new online sources that make well-reviewed products at more affordable prices.

People with minor impairment, at long last, now can get hearing aids without prescriptions, at far lower costs, with more variety of makes and models, and from over-the-counter retailers who are racing to capture a stake in a lucrative market.

The pandemic has only emphasized the health challenges that people experience as they seek to protect the senses of smell and taste. A key coronavirus symptom has been the loss of or decline in the sense of smell (which in turn can for many patients make food tasteless). Extreme temperatures and weather, a signature of climate change, also has worsened nose-clogging, smell-crushing, cough-causing allergies, experts say.

Respiratory problems — whether due to infection or allergies or other causes — are nothing to sneeze at. Don’t hesitate to work with your regular doctor or specialists to ensure that what may be an annoyance doesn’t worsen into a chronic mess. As for regular dental care, it, too, cannot be overlooked. Americans’ oral health, especially in kids, suffers greatly due to economic and racial disparities, the Pew Charitable Trusts has found, and the CDC adds this about this issue’s effects on our overall wellness:

“Oral health affects our ability to speak, smile, and eat. It also affects self-esteem, school performance, and attendance at work and school. Oral diseases — which range from cavities to gum disease to oral cancers — cause pain and disability for millions of people living in the U.S.”

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, hospitals, and others in medicine have identified a significant block to bettering the nation’s health: It’s you!

Patients may grumble — correctly and with major reason — about their medical care. But  inappropriate responses can end up harming rather than helping them. How, doctors ask, can patients get better when they just ignore their conversations with their doctor, skip medications, or decide not to follow treatment plans or get recommended tests or procedures?

Let’s be clear: Patients control their own care. They have the right to decide if they will take any drug or undergo any test or procedure. They have the fundamental right to informed consent. This means they are told clearly and fully all the vital facts they need to make an intelligent decision about what treatments to have, where to get them, and from whom.

That said, your health and wellness rely on a two-way street of frank, clear talk with your medical providers. Research shows that 62% of patients with serious, chronic conditions said in a survey that they didn’t take prescribed medications because they just forgot to do so, while caregivers discovered to their distress that 28% of those studied had run out of meds and had not told their MDs they needed refills. As the American Heart Association said in a recent policy statement:

“Medications do not work in patients who do not take them. Non-adherence is one of the largest challenges faced by [medical] providers in their management of [patients’] chronic illness.”

The heart group, joined by the American Stroke Association, called on doctors and others in the health care system to determine why problems with patients occur and to resolve these, urgently. It won’t be easy. Patients, the groups noted, may get confusing, unclear, or jargon-filled information from doctors, leading them to wave off care they just do not understand. It could be that they cannot access or afford drugs, tests, or procedures, and doctors fail to reckon with these major issues. Patients may find their doctors unapproachable, uncommunicative, or too harried to talk with. They may decide that a drug or procedure doesn’t or won’t work, has bad side effects, or is unacceptably painful, invasive, or harmful.

Here’s a short, practical answer: If you do not like or respect your doctors and their clinical advice, get another opinion, or get rid of them. Don’t put your doctors on a pedestal and potentially even let them cause you injury. Find new doctors and keep doing so until you find the right caregivers for you. Do it as part of your new year plans. Ask family, friends, work colleagues, and others whose counsel you value. Check out doctors online, examining their education, experience, and affiliations with professional credentialing organizations, as well as reputable hospitals in the area. By the way, don’t fall prey to some doctors’ slick advertising. Do what you can to become a better consumer of health information, so you also avoid destructive, too prevalent medical disinformation.