First, Do No Harm

Although I am primarily concerned with the topic of good personal health in this blog, I fear that I will have to make some social commentary along the way.  Our collective poor health here in the US is the product of many societal influences and these remain the elephant in the room.  I find the politics distasteful and wish I could opt out as an individual, but that sentiment is impractical and a bit defeatist, no?

There are some easy ones to start the list --

Lack of Exercise.  Americans tend to be couch potatoes, passively spending their leisure time indoors in front of a TV or computer screen.  Often, we drive or are conveyed by transportation without having to break a sweat or even dress weather-appropriately.

Poor Diet.  The huge amount of addictive, processed "food" the average person consumes is quite staggering.  Not only poor nutrition, these foods may rob your body of nutrients (and your wallet of cash along the way). Why would you let an advertiser convince you that you *need* to drink soda, or a processed sandwich meal, or some kind of horrid snack?  Nearly every unpronounceable chemical in those foods gets incorporated into the body, likely with unpleasant side effects.  It is galling how little your doctor probably cares about what you put down your gullet, even though we all grasp the concept of 'you are what you eat'.

High Stress. Our rushed society is full of deadlines, even as most are artificial ones.  There are even 'first world' stressors such as keeping one's email inbox empty.  Of course, real stresses exist (family crises, chronic health/pain, and so on), and need our attention.  Here, there does not seem to be an effective OFF switch to allow us enough rest and mental wherewithal to deal with our stresses.

Poor Sleep.  Sleep can be a marvelous revitalizer, an unsung hero of normal metabolic regulation.  Many of us are routinely sleep-deprived and your good health will erode over time with a poor resting regime.

Over-Medicalization.  I am shocked how many people actual take a prescription medication for something other than an acute condition.  Our medical system is often concerned with treating the symptoms in isolation instead of taking the time to perform a system analysis and a slow, corrective regimen.  You'll need an antibiotic.  Take flu shots.  Wash with anti-bacterial soaps.  Keep your house antiseptic.  We have an entire biome of helpful microcritters who we assault daily with these routine

That is enough to start the list.  More next time.