Page 32 - The Edge - Winter 2021

KAIROS HEALTH

BY HANNAH OLSON

Want to Be Healthy – or at Least Healthier?

Here’s How!
Hannah Olson

Meet the usual suspects for improving your work, and you saw the results. That’s motivating.
health. Don’t use tobacco. Watch your weight. Prevention doesn’t work that way. With
Exercise. Drink moderately (if you drink at all). prevention, your actions may not make things
Surround yourself with people who love you. better; often, they just keep them from getting
Actively manage stress. Get vaccinated. Get your worse. Sometimes, it can feel like a lot of work
recommended tests and screenings, including just to maintain the status quo. On top of that, the
blood pressure, mammograms, colonoscopies, bad things you’re avoiding may be decades down
PSA, etc. the road. It can be hard to get “present you” to
worry about a “future you” problem.
You know these things. Even so, there’s lots of
research out there showing that millions of us But present you and future you are the same
don’t log as much treadmill time as we should, eat person. And you know you want the best for both
as many mung beans as we should, or sit in that of you. So, how can you adjust your thinking to
chilly examination room as often as we should. help take the preventive health steps you know
you should?
It makes for an interesting paradox. We know
these things are good for us. We want good things There are no magic bullets, but here are a few
for ourselves. And yet we don’t do them. tips, courtesy of Psychology Today:

The fact is, the psychology of prevention can 1. Realize that it’s not all deferred gratification.
be tricky. To see why, think about its opposite: It’s true that most preventive health measures
remediation.
are designed to avoid longer-term problems.
Let’s say you’re a little overweight. So, on But there are short-term benefits, too. Did
Monday you have a salad instead of a chalupa. you ever work out and feel great an hour
On Wednesday you go for a walk instead of later, and then sleep like a koala that night?
napping on the floor. On Friday you have a nice Did you ever say no to that extra whiskey on
glass of wine rather than a bottomless margarita. Saturday and wake up Sunday full of energy?
On Sunday you order the grilled chicken wings Did you ever get a clean bill of health after
instead of the fried ones. (And you don’t try to an annual physical and have peace of mind
beat your cousin’s wing-eating record.) for weeks? These are the kinds of short-term
benefits you can enjoy by doing the right
“We know these things are good thing for yourself over the longer term.
for us. We want good things for 2. Get educated. When you were a kid, you may

ourselves. And yet we don’t do have heard this from a parent: “Because I
said so.” That never motivated anyone. It’s
them.” the same way with your health. Medical

authorities telling you, “Because I said so”
When you get on the scale on Monday morning, may not get you off the couch. But if you learn,
you’ve lost a couple of pounds. You put in the understand, and believe for yourself that, for

|
32 THE EDGE WINTER 2021