Prevention Before A Cure

Daily habits including physical activity allows you to fend off disease and chronic ailments at higher rates than your sedentary counterparts.

Seeing your PCP for a new problem is typically a fairly straightforward encounter. But working with a large number of people and providing efficient care for everyone is an impossible task. Because of limited time, prescribing can be a valuable tool used by your provider. Mention of exercise, eating habits, sleep, and stress levels may or may not be present during the interaction. Obviously there are conditions where medication is the gold standard of treatment. But going to our doctor, NP, or PA and being prescribed a medication for certain ailments should be the last step IF alternatives such as lifestyle changes and management would suffice.

So many suffer from issues that would lessen or even decrease in severity if they changed some of their daily habits. Medication is prescribed for high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, chronic pain, fatigue, any many other diagnoses in which living a sustainable daily routine of health and wellness could improve. I don't advocate to stay away from pharmaceutical interventions or think you should stop taking a prescribed medication. But having the attitude of taking a pill so I don't have to change is not the answer.

Many aspects of medicine practiced today is nothing short of miraculous. We're able to do procedures and cure diseases that were once fatal. We can live with disease and dysfunction for years on the back of medications and treatments from advanced healthcare providers. Relying on the ability of western medicine instead of preventing any disease in the first place is a direction we can only dream of going. With the amount of information available at the tip of our fingertips, very few of us can use ignorance as an excuse.

As a nurse I am thankful the medical community is capable of doing what it does. But preventative care still seems to be on the outside looking in. And while we all know roughly what we should be doing, our world is not set up to make it easy to eat better, move more, sleep more, stress less, and be healthy. It's up to each individual person to provide themselves with the most advantageous environment and be an example to anyone else that may be following their lead.