Being Healthy Means Living Healthy, Not Spending Bucks

 

I opened a fortune cookie the other day, expecting it to say something relatively nonsensical or meaningless, only to have it read:

“Money is not everything. You can buy a doctor but not heath.”

This fortune tells the story of more people than most of us can count, including most of us at times. All too often we fall into trap of thinking that the more we spend on health the healthier we will become. Not true. In fact, good health is a state of mind and need not cost more than time for exercise, time to give ourselves the R&R we need to nurture our souls, the price of food to eat for proper weight and overall good health, and the occasional co-pay for our primary care physician and needed prescriptions.

We can toss money at vitamins, pricey health clubs, personal trainers, diets, alternative health treatments, doctors, second opinions, medications, prescription and nonprescription, as many people do, but those things can’t get us healthy. More times than not, they only produce the facade of good health.

Think about it like this. The bikes and treadmills at the YMCA are the same as at the pricey gyms. The food at the large grocery store chains is just as nutritious and much more affordable than the chains claiming to be “natural” and “organic”.  The big vats of vitamins that many people are costly and not needed if people eat an overall well balanced daily diet.

So, take a look at what you are doing “to be healthy”. I bet if you make a few tweaks you’ll find there are easier ways to achieve your goal and you’ll find you’ll start saving more than a few pennies in the process, too.

Also, next time you come across some fortune cookies, open them up. The words of wisdom may actually be useful, cost effective, and health promoting!

H1N1, Swine Flu...Dispelling Myths

Yesterday, New England Cable News hosted a 2 hour prime time special on H1N1. I was honored to be invited on air as the pediatric health expert along with the area's top health professionals in emergency medicine, OB/GYN, public health and infectious disease. We covered a great deal of ground in the 2 hours including clearing up the popular myths circulating around:



Vitamins, Diet and the H1N1:



NECN: H1N1 What you Need to Know Resource Page

Flu Update

Teens need less homework and more free time!

 

“Hey mom”, my 15 year old said as she walked in the living room with that ‘I’ve been thinking about my life look’ that teens get once they enter high school. “How much homework did you have when you were my age?”

“This could potentially be a trap”, I thought. “Answer carefully”, I told myself.

“Well…,” I began cautiously, trying to read the look on her face – trying to see if she was just curious or about to have a HUGE stress out moment because of having too much homework that night.

“It does seem like you have more homework than Daddy and I had when we were in High School. But…our afterschool lives were also not quite as full.”

She gave me a blank look before responding.

“I think we have too much homework and we need more time to be kids. You and Daddy tell me that you and your friends used to do things and have time to hang out on weekends and stuff. My friends and I don’t have that. We even have tons of homework on weekends. THIS – IS – JUST –WRONG!!”

Then she added: “THEY…”, she pointed to her book bag, “ are stealing are childhood!”

I didn’t say anything in response just yet.

“So”, she continued. “Do you think we have too much homework? Do you think our childhoods have been stolen?”

I didn’t want to freak her out, but the truth is I did think she was right and knew the data supported her observation. So, I simply replied. “Times are different today but I have to agree the homework seems excessive. Perhaps there’s a way you and your friends can look into this and see if so much homework is needed.”

“That’s a great idea! Our Principal seems like a really cool guy. We’ll do some research.”

With that, she left, seeming more at ease.

In truth, our kids have much more homework than we had, as well as more overloaded afterschool lives. How much more homework? About 50% more!

Kids need a balance of education, extracurricular activities and free time. Since we were kids, so much attention has focused on programming their lives that no room has been left for our kids to water their own childhoods and to grow them in the direction of their choosing.

We live in a time of excess and the concept of moderation has flown out the window. Our kids can’t keep having every aspect of their lives pushed to the max: homework, afterschool activities, school sports.

TIME Magazine ran a very interesting article on The Myth About Homework that not only echoes my daughter’s concerns but tosses out some intriguing solutions, such as homework limits. The article points out what I’m seeing in my daughter, her friends and teens nationwide: the push on homework is actually backfiring – our kids are getting burned out and turned off to learning.

So, it’s time we support the movement my daughter and so many other teens nationwide are demanding in their lives. This is their childhood and they deserve time to explore more than just books and word problems.

BTW, the data is on the side of the teens with this one. More free time is exactly what their lives need for better learning…and better health!

Do your tweens and teens feel their childhoods are under attack either from too much homework or too many activities…or any other reason? I’d love to know!

On Line Health Forms Should Be For Patients, Not Health Professionals!

 

We had an interesting experience today.

My husband is scheduled for a routine test tomorrow and was notified by letter that he had to register ahead of time for the test. The test is going to take place at our local hospital. The letter clear had instructions with the name of the test and department name as well as two ways to register: phone or internet. My husband opted for the internet route assuming that was the more straight forward option.

Now, as background, he’s a fairly medically savvy guy. Even without having experienced second hand my residency, he’s incredibly well read and very health and computer literate. And, he knows his way around the insurance system. We assumed this would take all of 5 minutes and be a snap. Read on!

With insurance card and letter from the local hospital in hand, my husband goes to the hospital website and clicks “register for test”.

So far, so good.

He’s then asked to enter his insurance information and notices the the information fields don’t quite match up with the information on his insurance cards. One field asks for information not on his card: group name or number. We took a stab in the dark that it would be his company’s name and since the system accepted the information and moved to the next screen, we assumed we were likely right.

The next screen was the actual test registration screen.

This screen asked him to choose the name of the test and department name from drop down menus. Neither his test nor the department the test will occur in were on the menus, and this is one very common test in one of the most popular departments of the hospital!! Perplexing and surprising. So, he opted to enter the information in the “other” box, which the system seemed just as happy with.

This experience left us scratching our heads. Clearly someone didn’t do their homework. It seemed to us that the insurance aspect of the program was out of step with the information we are actually given, and that the test and department information was not patient friendly. It should have matched the letter sent out verbatim.

I was very disappointed to discover that the biggest community hospital in our area, the one claiming to care for people from all walks of life, didn’t have in place a registration system that met the literacy needs of the average patient.

This isn’t unique to our hospital or our area. This is the problem with Health 2.0 systems.

If we are going to go high tech, someone must pay attention to literacy and it has to follow through on all levels, from the letters sent home to the technology we are asked to use.

Again, I’m very disappointed, but not surprised. Just another symptom of our broken health care world.

Strollers Are Not Designed for Escalators!

 

There’s an epidemic at our malls: parents taking their small children up and down escalators in strollers of all sorts of sizes and shapes. I ended up behind one such parent yesterday and found strollers heading up and down all afternoon. Some were small, some large. Some had bags dangling off of them, others not. Sometimes parents had both hands on the handles, other times they were balancing the stroller and a drink or cell phone.

 

Some escalators have signage to indicate “no strollers” but this mall didn’t have any visible. But, do we need signage for common sense? Given what I witnessed, perhaps we do!! Plus, the statistics reveal a story of danger for young children that most parents don’t realize with escalators, on foot or in a stroller.

Before I share with you the statistics, check out this YouTube Video to see one scenario that could have occurred:

Or, this one:

Scary, huh?

Coupled with these images, we have compelling data to support how dangerous escalators are to young kids if we don’t use them with more common sense.

A 2006 study from Pediatrics looked at escalator injuries from 1990-2002 and concluded that there were a “disproportionate amount of escalator related injuries in children who were younger that 5 years of age.”

51% of the injuries were falls, 36.5% of the injuries were entrapment in this age group (such as a hand being caught in the side). 6% of injuries in this age group were from a stroller, usually from falling out of the stroller.

In the under 5 age group, the hand was the most common body part injured and entrapped due to escalator accidents. Of all the injuries seen, lacerations, some severe enough to cause amputation and avulsion, were the the injury most common in the under 5 age group.

It’s time we all start using transportation devices the way they were designed and stop playing Russian Roulette with our children’s safety. So, next time you are at the mall, give your self the extra time and use the elevator if you have a child in a stroller. Just think about the future ER visit you’ll be saving.

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Pediatricians stand united on importance of Swine Flu vaccination!

At last weekend's American Academy of Pediatrics meeting, a few of us were asked to comment to Good Morning American Weekend about our feelings about H1N1 (Swine Flu) and the vaccine, in particular.

None of us were privy to the comments each other made and I think you'll find the consistency of what we all had to say incredibly reassuring: Pediatricians on Swine Flu Confusion

Yesterday, GMA ran a segment on "The Scramble for Swine Flu Shots" which includes advice from me and other experts about the delay in the H1N1 vaccine. This segment does a nice job putting the entire situation in a very healthy perspective.

And, just to clarify, my entire family will be receiving the H1N1 vaccination when it becomes available in our area. That's how comfortable I am with it!

How do you feel about public cell phone talking?

 

During my recent travels to DC, I was privy to conversations about teenagers, business transaction, child care arrangements, marital issues, gossip, among other things!

These conversations have occurred while someone I didn’t know was on a cell phone yabbering away in a variety of settings: the mall, supermarket, airport (waiting areas, on the plane, restaurants), coffee shops, restaurants, on the street, at one of my kids’ schools. to name a few!

Having run into more cell phone “talkers and walkers” than I could count on my last few business trips, I found this poll done recently by USA Today and published in its October 16, 2009 print issue, quite intriguing. Asked if they find “public cell phone conversations rude”, 51% answered ‘yes’, 37% ‘no’ and only 12% replied they were ‘unsure’.

It’s one thing to use our cell phones publically for emergencies but for other conversations, time to pull in the reins and grab back some old fashioned discretion.

Part of this issue is setting a good example for our children. If we want them to adopt good phone manners and social skills, we need to follow good phone manners and social skills ourselves.

So, next time you are at the airport, read a book or magazine…don’t hop on the phone and conduct business. You should be considering that confidential and those of us around you really don’t want to hear your private details.

Think about how much quieter, and more polite, our days could be if we all followed this good cell phone etiquette!