Don's report archive
Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
Just When Doctors Are Starting To Do What I Recommended, I Realize That Their Role Modeling Is Not As Crucial As Once Thought
A recent survey of doctor lifestyles has been published in the Nation's largest business newspaper. Happily, it brings good news. Oddly, the survey also led me to reassess a long-held belief about the role of doctors in promoting wellness. Unhappily, the reassessment represents a bit of bad news. But, maybe what looks like bad news is really good news.
I can explain myself.
I'll start with the good news. According to the newspaper story, doctors now exercise more than they used to and much more so than their patients. Best of all, they usually urge their patients to exercise, also.
Since my first book 35 years ago, I have promoted the idea that doctors should be leaders in promoting wellness lifestyles. I wanted doctors to take the lead in exercising more and living better in all lifestyle ways—and counseling their patients to do the same. I even had an expression that today seems a bit unkind but made the point: "Examine your doctor before you allow him or her to examine you." Of course, that's still a good idea, since unfit, overweight physicians who smoke and/or otherwise seem oblivious to healthy lifestyle habit patterns are less likely to be supportive of wellness lifestyles for their patients.
The bad news in all this is that I may have overestimated the significance of doctors as patient educators and role models for wellness. It is certainly a good thing that doctors are doing more to promote wellness—that is without doubt. But, it's a bit of a case of "too little, too late." Think about it: doctors are, after all, seeing people who are, for the most part, already sick, sometimes due to poor lifestyle choices.
It's not too late to be helpful, but it is too late to create a revolutionary turnaround in the health habits of the population—so try to curb your enthusiasm for this new report.
The fact is that some doctors do not even interact with people unless they already have serious, life-threatening diseases, patients who for one reason or another are on their last legs. It's good if the doctors can do any good at all, such as slowing or arresting the arrival of death. Advice on losing weight, or better nutrition, or stress management might be helpful for some but for other patients wellness is the least of their concerns. Some doctor specialties lend themselves to wellness counseling more than others. Primary care doctors and pediatricians, for example, seem more likely to do good in this respect than specialists in heart transplants, oncology and brain surgery.
But the main reason I found a bad news element in the study about how doctors are getting all religious or devout as believers in exercise and other good lifestyle practices is a reassessment of the impact anyone can have on someone else after years of abuse and neglect. What is most needed for a healthier society is more support for wellness choices for the young. Let's make REAL wellness a fourth "R" or priority for schoolchildren and encourage societal patterns or cultural norms that reward healthy parenting, neighborhood design, facilities and basic services that render exercise safe and easy and otherwise make good living a primary value in every possible way. Fully 70 percent of African-American and 58 percent of Hispanic children have little or no swimming ability, compared with 40 percent of Caucasian children, according to a new report issued by USA Swimming. Every child should learn how to swim but this will never happen without a commitment to lifestyle education and support in all neighborhoods, including the poorest. (Source of data: Wall Street Journal article by Kevin Helliker, "Report Finds A Gap Persists in Swimming," May 27, 2010, p. D3.)
The new data on doctors is interesting, even if some of us (i.e., me) are less impressed than we used to be about how much doctors can effectively motivate positive change given their limited roles in the lives of patients already far along the road to perdition. A report on a new study suggests that "physicians as a group are leaner, fitter and live longer than average Americans. Male physicians keep their cholesterol and blood pressure lower. Women doctors are more likely to use hormone-replacement therapy than their patients. Doctors are also less likely to have their own primary care physician—and more apt to abuse prescription drugs." (Source: Melinda Beck, "Checking Up on the Doctor: What Patients Can Learn From the Ways Physicians Take Care of Themselves," Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2010.)
A few related items of interest from the above noted Wall Street Journal column about physician lifestyles may be of interest, including these tidbits:
- Only 2% to 4% of physicians smoke cigarettes, compared to roughly 24% of the U.S. population. Among female doctors, 83% of those who ever smoked have quit, about twice the rate as women overall. One doctor explained this statistic in a way that seems on the mark: "We have created a social norm that effectively prohibits physicians from smoking. You'd likely feel embarrassed if you were found smoking in public." Slightly more nurses smoke - roughly 8% - a figure that has dropped from previous years.
- Male and female doctors drink alcohol more moderately than the rest of the population. As you might expect, this is not the case while they are still in med schools.
- More than 8% of women doctors described themselves as vegetarians—compared to 2% to 3% of the U.S. population.
- Women doctors are more likely to have mammograms than the general population and most nearly always use sunscreen outdoors—a much greater use rate than among women generally.
In summary, what doctors do about looking after their own lifestyles does matter for them and it can be of interest to if not crucial for their patients; but the consequence of doctor role modeling and even skillful proselytizing can easily be overrated, which is what I think I used to be guilty of doing. What matters most, it seems to me, is early education and ample opportunities for healthy lifestyle choices in environments that support REAL wellness thoughts and deeds.
Be well and look on the bright (and secular) side of life.
Domain: physicalSubdomain: lifestyle habits
Search other reports in the Don Ardell report archive.
Read about our
Featured Products
my shopping cart
Read Don's latest report or search his report archive to find commentary on what you're interested in.
 |
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here. |
