Month: October 2021

The alarming state of chronic disease and health inequities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for people outside the medical community. There is a growing need for people to commit to making lifestyle changes to help prevent chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. However, patients are often uncertain of what changes they should make to improve their health and well-being.

Underlying good health is key to better outcomes among those who do acquire SARS-CoV-2, said Dexter Shurney, MD, president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. “That’s why we see an increase in severity of COVID among those that are unhealthy and have those comorbidities. The same lifestyle issues that increase chronic disease risk also hamper immunity—everything goes together,” he said.

Dexter Shurney, MD

Here is what Dr. Shurney had to say about what lifestyle changes patients should make to reduce chronic disease and improve their health during the pandemic and beyond.

Discover how the pandemic has shined a spotlight on chronic disease prevention priority.

Follow whole food, plant-predominant diet

“A whole food, plant-predominant diet is one of the most important things—it’s important because people tend to forget the power that eating ‘real’ food can have on their health,” said Dr. Shurney. “If your child comes to you and says, ‘I want to eat cake and ice cream three times a day,’ you’d say, ‘No, you can’t do that. That’s not healthy.’

“Yet a lot of us fill our bellies every day with junk food that doesn’t really do our body good. In fact, added sugar and unhealthy fats actually harm our bodies,” he added. “Physicians can help by having better conversations about this and really encourage their patients to do better.

“Plant-predominant is important since it provides the only source of natural fiber, contains no cholesterol, on average is 64 times higher in antioxidants, and if unprocessed—whole food—is lower in calories,” said Dr. Shurney. “Beyond merely recommending they lose weight, give them a plan.”

Learn about four ways to help patients with chronic disease make dietary changes.

Maintain regular physical activity

“For physical activity, you should do 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week,” said Dr. Shurney. “But it’s not that you have to do everything to the max. Even if you can just stand up more and not sit as much—even that can be quite beneficial.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic, physical activity has been hard for many to obtain, “but if you can just get out and do a brisk walk, there are a lot of benefits,” said Dr. Shurney. “For patients who are getting up in age, walking is just fine, and it is something most of us can do inside or with a mask outside.”

Discover how patients can start—and stick with—key lifestyle changes.

Get restorative sleep

“The sweet spot is actually seven to eight hours of sleep,” said Dr. Shurney. However, people who get less than seven hours of sleep have higher odds of developing type 2 diabetes.

A potential culprit “in our society right now is blue light—which we get from TV, our cellphones and video screens,” he said. “We need to shut those devices down at least 30 minutes before going to bed because blue light depresses our melatonin levels and we need melatonin to fall asleep.

“We also need to increase our exposure to bright light during our waking hours. Sunlight is the best,” added Dr. Shurney. “What this does is depresses our melatonin during the day and allows for a great rise at night when it’s needed for sleep.”

Learn about six things doctors wish patients knew about “coronasomnia.”

Find relaxation time to manage stress

“Exercise helps us to relax, so that’s always good,” said Dr. Shurney, adding that “if we get outside, we’re going to get our sun, we’re going to get our exercise and it’s going to relax us. It all works together.”

“The other thing we can do is we can learn how to control our breathing,” he said. By spending “10 minutes on a breathing exercise in the morning and in the afternoon, it will calm us down.”

Find out how to combat COVID-19’s disparate mental health impact.

Limit alcohol, quit smoking

Avoiding risky substances like alcohol and smoking can also go a long way. But the approach to getting someone to quit “varies from individual to individual and that’s true for all motivation to effect lifestyle behavior change,” said Dr. Shurney. For smoking, “it’s a matter of trying to frame the conversation so patients believe that they’re going to see not only long-term benefits, but short-term benefits as well, and that they can be successful.”

“We always seem to place smoking in this category of stop today so that 20 years from now you don’t die from lung cancer or COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]. Twenty years is a long time in the future,” said Dr. Shurney, adding that “we need to show people that there are short-term benefits.”

Learn about the eight things physicians should know about the latest on smoking cessation.

Keep positive social connections

It is even more imperative during the pandemic to maintain positive social connections, especially when stay-at-home orders and physical distancing requirements remain across the country.

“It’s been reported that social isolation and loneliness can be devastating to our health. In fact, loneliness has the negative health …

March 25, 2020

• By Monique Tello, MD, MPH, Contributor

How is it that the United States spends the most money on healthcare, and yet still has the one of the lowest life expectancies of all developed nations? (To be specific: $9,400 per capita, 79 years, and 31st.)

Maybe those of us in healthcare have been looking at it all wrong, for too long.

Healthy lifestyle and longevity

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a massive study of the impact of health habits on life expectancy, using data from the well-known Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). This means that they had data on a huge number of people over a very long period of time. The NHS included over 78,000 women and followed them from 1980 to 2014. The HPFS included over 40,000 men and followed them from 1986 to 2014. This is over 120,000 participants, 34 years of data for women, and 28 years of data for men.

The researchers looked at NHS and HPFS data on diet, physical activity, body weight, smoking, and alcohol consumption that had been collected from regularly administered, validated questionnaires.

What is a healthy lifestyle, exactly?

These five areas were chosen because prior studies have shown them to have a large impact on risk of premature death. Here is how these healthy habits were defined and measured:

1.   Healthy diet, which was calculated and rated based on the reported intake of healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, healthy fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, and unhealthy foods like red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fat, and sodium.

2.  Healthy physical activity level, which was measured as at least 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous activity daily.

3.   Healthy body weight, defined as a normal body mass index (BMI), which is between 18.5 and 24.9.

4.   Smoking, well, there is no healthy amount of smoking. “Healthy” here meant never having smoked.

5.   Moderate alcohol intake, which was measured as between 5 and 15 grams per day for women, and 5 to 30 grams per day for men. Generally, one drink contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol. That’s 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.

Researchers also looked at data on age, ethnicity, and medication use, as well as comparison data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research.

Does a healthy lifestyle make a difference?

As it turns out, healthy habits make a big difference. According to this analysis, people who met criteria for all five habits enjoyed significantly, impressively longer lives than those who had none: 14 years for women and 12 years for men (if they had these habits at age 50). People who had none of these habits were far more likely to die prematurely from cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Study investigators also calculated life expectancy by how many of these five healthy habits people had. Just one healthy habit (and it didn’t matter which one) … just one… extended life expectancy by two years in men and women. Not surprisingly, the more healthy habits people had, the longer their lifespan. This is one of those situations where I wish I could reprint their graphs for you, because they’re so cool. (But if you’re very curious, the article is available online, and the graphs are on page 7. Check out Graph B, “Estimated life expectancy at age 50 according to the number of low-risk factors.”)

This is huge. And, it confirms prior similar research — a lot of prior similar research. A 2017 study using data from the Health and Retirement Study found that people 50 and older who were normal weight, had never smoked, and drank alcohol in moderation lived on average seven years longer. A 2012 mega-analysis of 15 international studies that included over 500,000 participants found that over half of premature deaths were due to unhealthy lifestyle factors such as poor diet, inactivity, obesity, excessive alcohol intake, and smoking. And the list of supporting research goes on.

So what’s our (big) problem?

As the authors of this study point out, in the US we tend to spend outlandishly on developing fancy drugs and other treatments for diseases, rather than on trying to prevent them. This is a big problem.

Experts have suggested that the best way to help people make healthy diet and lifestyle change is at the large-scale, population level, through public health efforts and policy changes. (Kind of like motorcycle helmets and seat belt legislation…) We have made a little progress with tobacco and trans-fat legislation.

There’s a lot of pushback from big industry on that, of course. If we have guidelines and laws helping us to live healthier, big companies aren’t going to sell as much fast food, chips, and soda. And for companies hell-bent on making money at the cost of human life, well, that makes them very angry.…

It’s long been documented that cardiovascular exercise is good for your health. But have you ever wondered exactly what cardiovascular exercises are best if you’re looking to kickstart your health and fitness regime? If so, we’ve broken down the best cardiovascular exercises for your health and why you should do them.

What Are The Benefits Of Cardiovascular Exercise? 

As well as making running for the bus easier, the benefits of exercise are more than just feeling generally ‘fitter’. In fact, according to the NHS, cardiovascular exercise can reduce your risk of developing illnesses such as coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Not only that but it’s said to lower your risk of early death by up to 30%.

If you often find yourself tossing and turning in the night, cardiovascular exercise is also thought to improve sleep quality. And if that wasn’t enough, regular exercise can reduce stress by improving our self-esteem.

If you’re looking for a sign to start exercising again – this is it.

Cardiovascular Exercises To Do At Home  

If you’re looking to get healthy again, it can be tricky knowing where to start. If you struggle to distinguish your burpees from your mountain climbers, we’ve put together some exercise you can do from the comfort of your own home.

• Marching in place – If you’re looking for a low-impact exercise, marching in place will help raise your heart rate and get you moving.
• Air jump rope – If you don’t have a skipping rope handy, a great exercise to get you moving is doing an imaginary jump rope.
• Arm circles – make bingo wings a thing of the past with these handy arm circles, ideal for all fitness levels.
• Jumping jacks – a high intensity exercise, jumping jacks offer a quick energy release and can be done virtually anywhere. Even while waiting for your bus!

Cardiovascular Exercises To Do Outside 

Some of the best exercises that you can do are those that take place outdoors. As well as helping you get fit, exercising outdoors allows you to embrace nature and get some fresh air at the same time.

Some of the best outdoor exercises include:

Jogging  

A great way to get fit if you’re on a budget, jogging burns a significant number of calories in a short time, making it a great way to maximize the time spent exercising. In fact, it’s thought that running burns approximately 13.2 calories per minute!

Cycling  

Cycling is a great way to get from A to B and see the world at the same time. Whether you decide to make the most of your commute to work by cycling or explore some mountain trails – it’s a great way to get fit.

If cycling is something that interests you, you could look at cycle insurance to ensure that if you are unfortunately in an accident and your bike is damaged, the insurance will be there to cover you.

Outdoor Swimming  

If you’re brave enough, outdoor swimming is a great way to get fit.  What’s more refreshing than an early morning dip in chilly water?

In Conclusion

The bottom line is that however you choose to get fit, you won’t regret it. Whether you opt for some quick and easy at-home exercises or cycling to work – however you start, you’ll be pleased you did.

*collaborative post…