Wellness Weekly

Well this week’s entry is going to be a bit of a challenge and I think I will just stick to narrative form for the sake of expediency. You see, the NY Giants are in their play off game at this moment as I sit awaiting my service call from Comcast. Thus if I do get this written there is a good chance I cannot post it anyway. Takes some of the fun out of the work, I’d say.

But we will start with Eli Manning and the NFL. There is a campaign underway by the organization to encourage physical activity in children. I believe it might be called the Movement for an Active Generation. Another commercial that is running has to do with keeping gym (Jim) in school.

Just yesterday I saw that the CDC has come out with a revision on our obesity and overweight numbers and it appears that the obese category is now higher than the overweight. With both over 30%, it is safe to say we have an epidemic and we have a problem. There is more of a problem here that can be handled by medications meant to treat chronic disease. This is the time for prevention.

I have read in several different publications recently that indeed health care reform may involve more of an effort to get us moving more and eating less. It is always the same. Don’t smoke, be active, maintain a normal weight and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.

A new term has come out this week to coin an old problem. The folks at Mass General have decided that the chemical residue from cigarette smoke may be taken more seriously if it is called third hand smoke. It isn’t smoke, it is residue from smoke, but whatever you call it, it can be harmful and will be the fodder for additional anti tobacco policy.

On CNN House Calls this weekend there was a tobacco cessation specialist who took calls on quitting smoking. I was encouraged that nothing he said contradicted anything I say to my own clients. I did note that he said that there is NO QUESTION on whether or not smoking causes lung cancer. The fact that a very small minority of smokers do not get the disease and an equally small number who never smoked do, does not change this scientific conclusion. Further more, tobacco is responsible for 30% of cancer cases.

I am encouraged also that the topic of overmedication and medication with risk is being addressed more often and more openly. In fact, one of the most outspoken and cautious physicians, Dr. Sidney Wolfe has joined the FDA. Though Dr. Wolfe does not deny that certain medications have been instrumental in increasing longevity and quality of life, more of them do not.

Lastly, antipsychotic medications that are sometimes used to treat agitation in the elderly who have dementia have been associated with increased risk of death in those patients. As I have said before, psychotropics have some of the highest incidence of side effects and the use of them in vulnerable populations, like the old and the young, should be questioned.

Have a Good Week