Prevention: Knowledge is Key

By Shelley Wake

Prevention is better than cure - most people agree with that. But with so much health advice coming from so many sources, it often becomes hard to keep up. This tends to result in a lot of people ignoring health advice, not because they don't want to be healthy, but because it's not always easy to work out how to be healthy.

For quite a while, Jenny's son Mark refused to brush his teeth each night. Jenny didn't respond by simply repeating "you must brush your teeth" over and over again. Instead, she sat down and explained to her son why it was important that he brush his teeth. She explained that bacteria form a coating on the teeth and as they break down food, they produce acid that slowly erodes the teeth. From then on, Mark brushed his teeth every night, happy knowing that he was doing it for a good reason.

Angela had an office job where she spent most of the day sitting. She was constantly being reminded by someone to be sure she got up and exercised every few hours. Angela ignored the advice. Then Angela watched a documentary about the circulatory system one night. She learned that the heart pumps blood to the legs, while the veins return blood to the heart. She also learned that because the veins of the legs are so far from the heart and because the blood must be returned against the force of gravity, the pumping action is not strong enough to return the blood. She learned that the pumping action needed to return the blood comes from the muscles of the legs. When the muscles contract, they press against the veins and push blood up toward the heart. Angela realized that by sitting all day, her muscular pump wasn't operating and so blood was pooling in her legs. With this knowledge, Angela finally decided to listen to the advice of everyone. She no longer needed to be reminded to exercise because she understood why it was so important.

These examples show how knowledge can be the key to health prevention. Few people are going to follow any piece of advice in the long term without knowing why it's important to follow that advice.

Take this approach to health care. When any health professional gives you health advice, ask for an explanation of why you should follow the advice. Ask as many questions as it takes for you to understand the reasons why. If you hear advice from other sources, do some research to find out for yourself the reasons why.

For More Information:

The Healthfinder site organized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services includes a library that contains easy to understand information on all areas of health.

Having this knowledge and understanding can be crucial in helping you maintain a healthy lifestyle based on prevention, while also helping you gain the most benefits from the advice and expertise of health professionals.