4 hours Ago
One may see value in a communication skill, however, there is one even more important. That would be acquiring and applying knowledge to maintain one’s health throughout life. Knowing how to adapt your lifestyle to meet the demands of each life stage is a skill that ensures well-being.
One’s lifestyle is a greater determinant of individual health than genetics. Only 5 to 10% of diseases are caused strictly by a singular gene mutation. Sixty to 70% of people have a genetic variation in multiple genes creating a predisposition to acquiring a particular disease, but that doesn’t guarantee you will get it, because these generally require an environmental or lifestyle trigger to manifest.
A predisposition to type 2 diabetes might be avoided through a healthy diet, regular exercise and weight management. Despite spending more on health care than any other nation ($4.3 trillion annually), we as a people are getting sicker.
Conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer are rising. Type 2 diabetes, once called adult onset, is now seen in the young. Its incidence has doubled from 2002 to 2018 and is increasing at about 5% annually.
Autoimmune diseases are up more than 50% since the 1970s. It is estimated that by 2030, 50% of Americans will be obese. About 6 in 10 adults have at least one chronic disease and 4 in 10 have two or more.
Between 10 and 20% of people ages 18-34 and 25 to 30% ages 5-17 live with at least one chronic health condition. The American diet underwent significant changes after World War II. Before then, we relied on whole, fresh, and locally produced foods.
But afterward, the diet shifted toward processed and packaged food, often high in refined sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. Supermarkets made a wider variety of these foods available, reducing reliance on local markets and homegrown produce. The fast food industry flourished and TV and other advertising promoted processed and convenience foods as modern, time-saving and appealing.
The soda industry grew rapidly, with sugary drinks becoming a staple in the American diet. Partially hydrogenated oil (trans fats) were widely used in processed foods, baked goods and margarine, contributing to a rise in unhealthy fat consumption. These high in calorie, high in sugar and fats and low in fiber diets have contributed to a dramatic increase in diet-related chronic diseases and obesity.
Combining that with an unhealthy lifestyle, as well as health illiteracy, has produced the epidemic of largely self-inflicted illnesses that we see today. Three-quarters of the health care dollars go to the treatment of chronic disease and yet only approximately 3.5% is spent on what this article is about, prevention.
My belief is that the best way to improve our collective health is through education in the school system. Next to family, schools are the major institutions for providing the instruction and experiences that prepare young people for their roles as healthy productive adults. For many young people in their formative years, school may, in fact be the only nurturing and supportive place where they learn health information and have positive behavior constantly reinforced.
They need to learn and practice making health-enhancing choices before health-damaging behaviors are initiated or become ingrained. For a comprehensive, sequential, preK-12 Health curriculum to be accepted and effective, all stakeholders — including families, administrators, teachers and community members — need to be involved. We need to more fully appreciate the importance of health education of our students and go beyond minimum requirements and create a curriculum that covers all aspects of health, including learning about the structure and function of the human body so students can relate what disease does to it.
There are benefits from exercise, not only for physical health, but for mental health as well. A large new analysis of meta-studies finds that exercise is more beneficial for conditions such as mild to moderate anxiety and depression than standard psychotherapy or medications. From basic hygiene such as hand washing and tooth brushing (cavities are the most common chronic disease in children) in the early grades to sequentially learning more pertinent, grade-appropriate health topics.
They need to hear these messages throughout their education in order to adopt health-enhancing behaviors and not to just touch on various aspects of health here and there. An analogy would be building a house where bricks are delivered randomly without a blueprint. The bricks represent individual lessons without a cohesive plan to produce structure and integration.
In Japan, health is a core curriculum that goes beyond traditional academics, focusing on physical, mental and social well-being. Health concepts are integrated across subjects reinforcing their importance. They teach children about balanced diets, physical activity and hygiene from an early age.
School lunch programs provide healthy balanced meals that set lifelong habits. Japan has a high life expectancy and low chronic disease rate and a 4% obesity rate, whereas in the U.S.
it is more than 40%. Healthy behaviors learned in schools ripple through generations, leading to long-term cultural shifts toward wellness, and when students become parents their health education will impact their children’s habits creating a cycle of improved health. I have personally witnessed the results of poor health choices, having worked 40 years in the health care field.
Redirecting even a fraction of our annual healthcare budget by having a healthier population could create profound, long-lasting impacts on society, improving quality of life and boosting national income and tax revenues. It can reduce demand for government-subsidized health care services such as Medicare and Medicaid, and help to alleviate pressure on national budgets, contributing to a reduction in the national debt over time. Upfront investment in health education would be far lower than the long-term costs of treating preventable diseases.
Let’s give our students all the knowledge and tools necessary to make informed, evidence-based decisions on their most important asset, their health. Robert M. Umbriac is a retired certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) and a Danville school board member.
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