Are you as amazed at the news as I am?

Today, I read a New York Times story about how common it is for people to have many conditions.

Many people have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, osteoporosis,  gastric reflux, fatigue, and depression. By the age of 65, over two-thirds of us have multiple chronic health conditions!

You know what that means: pills, pills, and more pills. In the article, one woman was supposed to be taking 13 different medications every day!

Do you know anyone who is taking many, many pills?  Could that be you someday? I hope not.

The thing is, the more drugs you take, the greater the risk of side effects and drug interactions. And, treating one disease with medication can make another worse. Not to mention the expense, more and more of which we are being forced to shoulder out of pocket.

Doctors admit they are in a predicament. The woman on the 13 pills wasn't taking them, worrying her doctors.

One  "solution" is to create "polypills."  Today there was (coincidentally?)  another hot story –this one was about a combination pill that can reduce the risk of heart disease in middle-aged people. The pill contains cholesterol-lowering medicine known as a statin and three blood pressure drugs with aspirin. So much simpler to take than 5 pills, eh?

Oh, but wait, what if you have another condition or set of risk factors that you need to medicate? The polypill won’t do anything to address THAT.

I don’t claim to have the answer to this problem. But the real "magic pill" is one that treats many conditions without side effects.

Do you know of any such thing?

I do!

It's called "healthy-eating-and-exercise."  Yes, lifestyle changes can help manage many conditions--like heart disease, stroke, or diabetes--and can help lower your chances of ending up with a serious chronic condition in the first place.

For example, eating plenty of fruits, berries, and vegetables and getting enough exercise may lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as reduce inflammation and nourish all your body systems from your brain to your heart to your eyes, and thus reduce your chances of many types of cancer, heart disease, overweight, memory problems, and even depression.  

Doctors know this, but have not been able to get their patients to take this "pill."

In the polypill article, physicians are quoted as saying the pill must "still be used in conjunction with … efforts to improve diet and exercise," and  "Doctors must ensure that a single pill doesn't lead people to abandon lifestyle choices, such as a healthy diet and regular exercise, which really benefit the heart."

Amen!

I just returned from Los Angeles, where I took part in a special training that gave me the tools to work with doctors and other health practitioners to help them establish wellness and weight loss solutions in their practices. One by one, I and other medical consultants are working to get our health professionals in the wellness business, not just the illness business.

In the meantime, we need to take control of our health ourselves.

I know ths can be daunting.  But this web site gives you lots of tools and groups and nearby classes to join.  And, if you need more guidance and support, you can always turn to a personal trainers and coaches.

We all need all the help we can get in making the lifestyle changes we need to make so we'll have less chance of being one of the over 65-year-olds with multiple health conditions. And if you already have health conditions, lifestyle changes can also  address those and perhaps reduce your medications.

Doesn't that sound good?