"It's about that time of the month," a physician colleague of mine said to me a few days ago, "when our patients start to let go of their New Year's resolutions." That is, all those well-intentioned promises we make to ourselves year after year to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, to spend 30 minutes in the gym each day, or to start a walking program. Breaking unhealthy habits and starting healthy ones is hard, and most people require several attempts to succeed. As I discussed in a previous blog post, there's good evidence that even multiple intensive lifestyle counseling sessions led by trained professionals are only mildly helpful.
Compounding matters is the fact that every individual is different. You probably know people who’ve lived to ripe old ages in perfect health despite having eaten eggs every day of their lives or not exercising. My great-grandfather smoked cigarettes for 80 years, but died peacefully in his sleep in his late 90s. (Maybe he would have made it to the century mark if he'd quit.) Some researchers have suggested that a more effective way to motivate patients to change their lifestyles could be to give them personalized information about their risk for common chronic conditions such as cancer and heart disease. Others, though, have worried that this knowledge could encourage complacency among those who learn they’re at below-average risk. Why quit smoking, for example, if you think your genes will protect you from lung cancer?
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Andrew Lopez, RN
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