To Your Health!

We live in an age of miracles.  This is the tenth anniversary of the iPhone.  Imagine taking a walk in the park and seeing a dark cloud on the horizon.  What do you do?  You take out your telephone and get the current weather radar from the Internet to see if rain is coming your way and it’s time to head for the parking lot.  Ten years ago this would have been impossible; twenty-five years ago, unbelievable; today it’s a logical course of action.

Ten years ago Facebook was in its infancy, and today almost a billion people are in touch with relatives, and can enjoy pictures of vacations or concerts others are attending, even as it happens.  The downside is that we get to fight with friends and strangers about politics, we waste time seeing what others ordered at the restaurant, as more people take and post pictures of victims of tragedies than attempt to assist.  And today Twitter seems to be supplanting Facebook in popularity.  Nonetheless, the whole social network scene is miraculous if seen from the eyes of someone living in the year 2000 – so recently!  And we take it all for granted.

Today people talk of self-driving cars and trucks as a near-term reality.  Amazon toys with the idea of drone deliveries.  Robots cook pizzas in California.  With all these technological marvels it’s no wonder that we have come to expect miracles in all the other aspects of our lives.

This came to mind a couple of days ago when the “health news break” revealed advice from Harvard on how to boost your immune system.  I could not find the exact reference, but this one gives a good summary of the same information:

• Don't smoke.
• Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated fat.
• Exercise regularly.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Control your blood pressure.
• If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly.
• Get regular medical screening tests for people in your age group and risk category.
• (The only thing missing is to get a flu shot.)

Upon hearing this, my wife said, “That’s not news.”  Indeed, it’s not.  In fact the article where I found the above information is over 3 years old – and it wasn’t news then!

This is simple, straightforward stuff that our grandmother could have told us, but still we yearn for the miracles, because this is basic, but difficult for many people.  Typical of many other discipline issues, such as retirement savings, we must do the same things over and over and do them well to enjoy favorable outcomes.

So it’s not surprising that even a reputable organization like the New York Times reports health tricks and secrets, like how being in a good mood might make your flu shot more effective.  It was based on post hoc analysis of a single observational study of 138 people, which isn’t even scientifically valid.  (Note:  A post hoc analysis means looking at all the data and seeing if any relationships at all can be found.)  Coincidental, not causal, relationships are common.  This was the method used in the intentionally misleading “Eating Chocolate Causes Weight Loss” study.

There are miracles in medicine as well, but there is nothing like Moore’s Law (the doubling of chip speed every couple of years) in medicine or in personal wellness.   And the purveyors of health tricks and secrets are more interested in your attention or your money than in your wellbeing.