Article Analysis: Reducing Health Care Crisis in America

Despite the USA being the largest spender on healthcare costs per capita compared to any other country worldwide, our life expectancy is lower than many other comparable developed nations. This situation has led medical and public health professionals in America to search for ways to address our healthcare challenges. As we discuss the healthcare crisis in America in this essay, I want to review an article that offers some answers to our healthcare crisis by presenting the benefits of lifestyle medicine to address core issues with our approach to healthcare today. Rather than focusing on specific issues, lifestyle medicine aims at changing individuals’ behaviors, thereby addressing numerous risk factors. The article cites studies examining the potential benefits of lifestyle medicine in reducing the incidences of chronic illnesses.

An Examination of Strategies to Mitigate the Health Care Crisis in America

Chronic illnesses have become a major health challenge in society today. Issues such as cardiac disease, chronic neck, back and joint pain, cancer, and other autoimmune diseases have severely impacted people’s health and led to spending billions of dollars on healthcare costs. It is customary for doctors to prescribe medications to relieve symptoms arising from these illnesses. While these prescription medications or treatments generally provide immediate relief, they are linked to varied and often adverse side effects.

The article I chose discusses a potentially viable solution to address the increasing incidences of chronic diseases and consequently rising healthcare costs. Most life-threatening chronic illnesses are due to lifestyle and environmental influences. Issues such as cancer and heart failure are among the leading causes of death in the United States; traditionally, patients with these conditions would automatically receive medication. This article aims to increase awareness among people about how lifestyle changes can prevent life-threatening diseases. Lifestyle medicine incorporates strategies that improve overall health by changing daily habits. It has been shown that by simply eating healthier, exercising more, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy body weight, there is a significant reduction in the risk of developing a chronic illness. Making these simple lifestyle changes allows people to have more control over their own wellness, thereby reducing their dependence on conventional medical treatments. While lifestyle changes are of minimal cost to most people, conventional medicine can be a financial burden in comparison.

Comparative Analysis of Lifestyle and Traditional Medicine

The article aims to inform readers about the benefits of lifestyle medicine in comparison with the risks associated with traditional medication. The paper explains the differences between traditional and lifestyle medicine, noting that lifestyle medicine can prevent and cure illness by addressing multiple risky behaviors commonly linked to debilitating diseases, whereas traditional medicine focuses only on the disease itself. This paper attempts to encourage people to change their approach to treating chronic illnesses.

The authors of the paper compiled numerous studies examining the effects of lifestyle medicine in comparison to traditional medication and treatments. In one study, researchers followed a group of about 23,000 German middle-aged men who were studied for issues such as diabetes, cancer, stroke, and heart issues. They were instructed to follow four lifestyle changes: never smoking, eating a healthy diet (sufficient fruits and vegetables and low meat consumption), exercising at least 3.5 hours per week, and maintaining a healthy body weight; they were tracked for almost eight years (Schulze et al., 2011). In a second study, about 30,000 people were studied based on similar lifestyle factors affecting overall health (Ford et al., 2009). In a third study of about 3,000 people, researchers studied the effects of a diabetes drug compared to a lifestyle alteration program (Knowler et al., 2002).

Key Findings and Implications

Key findings state that after adjusting for sex, age, education, and occupational status, the first study resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of developing certain diseases. In subjects who adhered to all four aspects of the lifestyle-modification program, the data stated that 93% of diabetes, 81% of heart attacks, 50% of strokes, and 36% of all cancers were prevented compared to subjects who did not adhere to any health factors. The second study found that abnormal lipids, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, abdominal obesity, psychosocial factors, consumption of fruits, vegetables, and alcohol, and regular physical activity are the reasons for the majority of heart issues in both sexes worldwide; by changing lifestyle, at least 90% of heart disease in men and 94% in women could be prevented. In the third study, one group was given metformin, a diabetes drug, another was a control group, and the third was placed on a program that required at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week along with a goal of at least a 7% reduction in body weight. The group that used lifestyle medicine had a 27% reduction in the number of incidents per 100 years compared to the group prescribed metformin.

The results of the studies cited by the authors illustrate that a switch from traditional treatment to lifestyle medicine is effective in reducing the incidence of chronic illnesses. The studies included a significantly large population in order to present an accurate result of the findings; as a result, the authors emphasize that it is crucial for doctors to become trained in lifestyle medicine. This can lead to healthcare costs being drastically cut and promoting wellness in patients as well as an improvement in public health in general. However, the studies were conducted only in developed nations, and therefore the findings could have been different had the studies been conducted elsewhere. Data produced by studies performed in developing nations can differ from the information listed in the article due to differences in genetic makeup, environment, culture, and availability of healthcare.

Conclusion

After reading this article, it seems convincing that the future of public health will be dominated by lifestyle medicine, and more breakthrough research will emerge to convince us of its efficacy and validity. The three medical doctors who have authored this paper are well-known and respected in the field of medicine in the USA. Dr. Michael Roizen is the Wellness Director of the Cleveland Clinic, a well-established healing facility at the forefront of cutting-edge research in the field of medicine today. Dr. Dean Ornish is a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Mark Hyman is the director of Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona, which is also a premier medical institution where patients with complex medical conditions have found hope and healing. The credentials of the authors make the results of this study very reliable, and it certainly seems that at some point, this research could completely change the way we approach causes and solutions to chronic illnesses altogether.

References

Ford, E. S., Bergmann, M. M., Kröger, J., Schienkiewitz, A., Weikert, C., & Boeing, H. (2009). Healthy living is the best revenge: Findings from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 169(15), 1355–1362.

Knowler, W. C., Barrett-Connor, E., Fowler, S. E., Hamman, R. F., Lachin, J. M., Walker, E. A., & Nathan, D. M. (2002). Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. New England Journal of Medicine, 346(6), 393–403.

Schulze, M. B., & Hu, F. B. (2011). Primary prevention of diabetes: What can be done and how much can be prevented? Annual Review of Public Health, 32, 187–209.