More Secrets To A Longer Life

A couple of related stories caught my attention recently. The impression I got from them is that people continue to look for easy answers, tips and secrets. With all the new technology and scientific breakthroughs, they tend to abandon common sense, expecting something better and easier. This attitude drives a lot of wasteful behavior indicative of a lack of discipline and critical thinking.

 

The first was from a website called Outside with the title: “8 Simple Tips to Live Longer and Healthier.” These tips, it explains, are easy and based on scientific time-tested methods. The tips are merely to develop healthy daily living habits. This idea has been around for ages and the evidence to support it “has mounted, even as more people try to find the elixir of youth.”  A 2016 British study “found a healthy lifestyle reduces one’s chance of all-cause mortality by a whopping 61 percent.”

 

To make such a list, as the line from Casablanca goes, “round up the usual suspects.” They are easy to understand, but not so easy to adopt.

1. Exercise is good for you.
2. Watch what you eat.
3. Socialize – loneliness has surprisingly bad effects.
4. Avoid nearly all supplements – “the vast majority don’t work and may even cause harm.”
5. Get enough sleep.
6. Get outside and enjoy nature.
7. Don’t smoke.
8. Drink alcohol in moderation.

This kind of information is republished frequently by the news media and in public service announcements. By now it’s not really news! Some might add a few more such as: sunscreen, brushing and flossing, drink when you are thirsty, wash your hands and get a flu shot.  But most of this is common knowledge.

 

The one about the supplements is certainly right but not often mentioned. For example, Harvard School of Health calls claims about antioxidants “mostly hype” adding, “mostly disappointing [study] results haven’t stopped food companies and supplement sellers from banking on antioxidants.” The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) says, “Many studies have shown antioxidants do not add health benefits nor do they play a key role in preventing cancer or heart disease.” I have covered the dangers and waste associated with dietary supplements many times in the past.

 

The related idea of looking for the easy answer came from a story early in the pandemic. Americans were hoarding not only toilet paper but also another product that made little sense. Last May a Forbes article reported, “retail sales of orange juice increased 46% in the United States in a four-week period ending on April 11.” 

They apparently believed in the power of Vitamin C to cure colds and other viruses. That this is not true should also have been common knowledge. Back in 2006 NPR ran a story, “The Vitamin C Myth.” By then there had been “at least twenty well controlled studies on the use of mega doses of vitamin C in the prevention of colds, treating the duration of colds, and in treatment of the severity of colds;” none of them showed any evidence that “vitamin C in mega doses does anything.” 

 

This vitamin C myth is just another example of what I referred to recently in “Flashback – Fear of Power Lines” on September 11: when people get an idea stuck in their heads, it takes a great deal of persuasion to get them to change their minds, even if the science is definitive.

 

Problems in discipline cause us to ignore the simple but not easy-to-follow lifestyle instead hoping for a pill or magic medical device. Problems in critical thinking cause the brain latch on to one of those ideas and never again wonder if it’s accurate.

Flashback – Responsibility and Excuses

[How things have changed from when I originally titled this “Evidence Abounds” back in 2011. These days news is dominated by coronavirus and politics (or the mixture). What hasn’t changed is the tendency to use excuses in place of responsibility and the media’s willingness to encourage this behavior. First see the flashback comments.]

How hard is it to find evidence of problematic behavior in one or more of the five dimensions or of institutionalized support for these habits? – Surprisingly easy.  There are days when I have to pick and choose among available topics.

Today I have an Associated Press article left over from 3 weeks ago presenting research that tells how hormones make it more difficult to keep weight off after dieting.  The headline begins, “Not your fault!”  This is right out of the poor discipline/poor responsibility playbook.  It gives people the excuse that they can’t stick to their diet because of their hormones.  Ironically the header above the article features six advertising links, five of which are for weight-loss products, programs or surgery – the easy answers that everyone looks for when faced with the hard work of getting back to and staying at the right weight.  This is practically the definition of discipline and responsibility failures that bubble up into many other societal issues and crises (budgeting, smoking, and alcohol abuse, to name a few).

How, in the first place, can any reputable scientist say that hormones are the problem?  Didn’t humans have the same hormones many years ago when the number of overweight Americans was less than half of what it is today?  It just doesn’t add up.

Second, how can the parent of a teenager use hormones as an excuse for regaining weight and not let that teenager use hormones as an excuse for any of their own destructive decisions?  This sounds like a can of worms ready to be opened.

I have sometimes jokingly said that if I ever got arrested for anything, I’d just tell the police that what I was doing was performance art and protected under the First Amendment.  Now, I guess, if that doesn’t fly, I have the excuse of hormones to fall back on.  

[Well, that was then, but in 2020, a NOVA episode was dedicated to blaming obesity mostly on genes using examples of rare cases. It's a little hard to believe that our genes are so much different from Americans living in the 1950s and 60s. Does evolution work that fast, or is it just another handy excuse?]

Who Will Tell Us the Truth?

When a large number of people are convinced that certain incorrect facts are true, it is not in the interest of politicians or advertisers to try to talk them out of it. If many people thought the sky was green, Congress would likely pass a resolution praising the greenness of the sky in an effort to garner support. 

When the food industry learns that many people believe that gluten has negative effects, they begin printing labels touting the lack of gluten in their products or take the gluten out while raising the price. They will reinforce errors for votes or sales with no interest in education, while the myths are spread and supported by the news media and social media contacts.

I have written many times before about misunderstandings around the health benefits of dietary supplements, the dangers of GMOs and an irrational fear of everything from power lines to nuclear power plants. All these misconceptions have a cult-like following. 

Likewise, as crime statistics continue to improve, the news media’s search for more and more isolated incidents to report with breathless anxiety leads people to the opposite conclusion. Fear sells. (This is very apparent from the coverage of the coronavirus where they search out and report as typical, anecdotal examples of flaws in the system then ask the President what he is doing to quell the anxiety and comfort the fearful.)

Now here are a few more examples where commonly held beliefs are inconsistent with the facts. 

The first is a campaign trail mantra: the rich are getting richer while the poor get poorer. This is clearly not the case. Income is tracked in quintiles, five groupings from lowest to highest. Between 1979 and 2015, real income for all quintiles has increased. 

The Congressional Budget Office reported that, adjusted for inflation, taxes, welfare payments and Social Security, the income of the bottom 1/5 rose by 79%, while the top 1/5 rose by 103% and the middle 3/5 by 46%. There may be more inequality, but the poor are not getting poorer. Furthermore, research shows that the population in each of those segments is less stable than most believe. Individuals freely move up and down, so some of the formerly poor are much better off.

The second case has led to draconian laws in every state ruining the lives of individuals and their families, sometimes with threats of violence and death from incensed vigilantes. Laws require every sex offender to be named on the same registry regardless of the seriousness of their offense. 

The idea is to protect the public, especially children, from these monsters who are likely to strike again without notice. But reliable research shows that people who commit sex crimes are very unlikely to repeat. And a study in New York showed that 95% of those arrested were first offenders – who would not have been on a registry in the first place. 

Finally, is vaping is as bad as smoking? Johns Hopkins says that it’s less harmful than smoking but not completely safe. Most cases of lung injury (EVALI) “appear to predominantly affect people who modify their vaping devices or use black market modified e-liquids.”

The CDC opinion is that “E-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adult smokers who are not pregnant if used as a complete substitute for regular cigarettes....”

The majority of cases of EVALI are strongly associated with Vitamin E acetate added to THC. Vitamin E acetate has not been found in the lung fluid of people that do not have EVALI. 

 Although it’s not legal to sell e-cigarettes to minors since August 2016, and the federal government has just banned flavored e-cigarettes to try to discourage kids from getting hooked, kids have always been able to get cigarettes. Despite new laws, the country is stressing over a teen vaping epidemic. The result of these bans will likely increase EVALI cases as adults and kids that still want the flavors will be shopping on the black market where the real danger comes from. Meanwhile, everyone feels virtuous about leading the fight against another vice and protecting our kids.

It is so easy for people to get extremely upset about invisible threats, e.g., diseases and radiation or threats to our children like abductions or school shootings or rape culture on campus or differences that play to our sense of social justice. When this kind of artificial hysteria takes hold, no one stops to ask: what is the real danger; where did they get the numbers; who conducted the study; was there a study at all or did someone make it up to support their own agenda, job security or beliefs? 

The government reacts with stupid, purely symbolic actions like banning plastic straws. Advertisers print labels or adjust products to meet a demand generated by information with no scientific backing. Myths and misinformation distract from solving real problems. All for lack of critical thinking.

Behavior Does Have Consequences

Wise choices usually lead to favorable results. Poor choices or foolhardy behavior often leads to trouble. This is not rocket science, yet many people struggle to see the connection, despite the fact that we are surrounded by examples.

The standard example is that of the child touching a hot stove. The child receives immediate feedback, quickly jumps back and learns to avoid the situation in the future. It is an easy, and ordinarily harmless lesson. The first time may be a mistake or ignorance, but after that the child learns to be careful.

The harder lessons come from the actions that have delayed or unpredictable consequences. Teens (and adults) hear many warnings about the dangers of smoking, that it can shorten their lives by several years. Some heed the warnings. Others feel confident about ignoring the warnings because the consequences are so far in the future. They may also have heard of the rare cases of the centenarians who smoked or had other bad habits all their lives and are still going strong at 100 years of age. The lessons are delayed and uncertain, but the odds are strongly against a happy ending.

This came to mind when I heard about the incident before a Backstreet Boys concert at an outdoor pavilion at WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The weather forecasters warned of an incoming storm bringing high winds and rain. The news reported that as the storm hit, a tent collapsed, emergency crews arrived on the scene along with 10 ambulances, and paramedics carried people out on stretchers. They cancelled the show, apologized to their fans and promised to come back at a later date.

But the rest of the story goes like this: "All patrons in the area were asked to move and to seek shelter from the storm. However, about 150 patrons who were standing in line for the Backstreet Boys concert did not heed staff's warning... the storm hit and knocked over the concert entrance trusses with 70-80 mile an hour winds and heavy rain. 14 people were treated at the scene and then transported to local hospitals." (Emphasis added.)

As usual in these types of situations numerous unnamed heroes sprang into action to help the people in trouble. Of course the casino, performers and news media would never say anything so blunt as “behavior has consequences,” but it fits, at least for some. They did not heed the warning and ended up in the hospital.

The typical reaction is to ignore the behavior/consequences connection and to treat the injured as victims, even when they are victims of their own misjudgments.  For example, look at how juries have rewarded smokers (and their surviving relatives) in the past. 

That’s why the child learns the lesson and adults keep making foolish decisions.

Real Medicine

There is no such thing as alternative medicine.  There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t. (Paraphrased from Dr. Harriet Hall’s excellent lecture series on YouTube.)

 I’m reminded of this wisdom when I hear news like this from NBC. “Complementary therapies may sound good, but they don't cure cancer.” Last Thursday researchers published the results of a study showing that “cancer patients who choose alternative medicine over standard, proven cancer treatments are more likely to die.”

The practice of using herbs or meditation is fairly common among cancer patients and may make them feel better and more at ease; but it does nothing to cure the cancer. People who rely solely on complementary medicines are more likely to opt out of proven treatments and twice as likely to die from the cancer.

The study also found that those who relied on alternative cures tended to be younger women with more education and more money. This is an exception to data showing that the poor generally have worse outcomes. It is only natural to look for a gentler, less intrusive solution, but better-informed people should know that doctors and the FDA “have warned for years that unproven treatments may lure patients away from legitimate therapy that can save their lives.”

That last sentence is interesting in light of another recent piece of medical news. “The Center for Inquiry has filed a lawsuit in the District of Columbia on behalf of the general public against drug retailer CVS for consumer fraud over its sale and marketing of useless homeopathic medicines.” Their objection is that CVS sells homeopathic products side by side with scientifically proven medicines, leading customers to believe that the products are as effective as standard remedies for pain, insomnia, and cold/flu symptoms.

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) characterizes homeopathy as “a total sham” and explains their reasoning. Of course, they are a skeptical group, and this opinion would be expected. However, the experts come down on their side. “The FTC declared in 2016 that the marketing of homeopathic products for specific diseases and symptoms is only acceptable if consumers are told: ‘(1) there is no scientific evidence that the product works and (2) the product’s claims are based only on theories of homeopathy from the 1700s that are not accepted by most modern medical experts.’ And last year, the FDA announced a new...policy of regulatory action against homeopathic products.” (It's only the CAM lobby that deflects stronger action.)

 Isn’t this CVS that seems to endorse homeopathy as legitimate medicine the same CVS that made headlines a few years ago by refusing to sell tobacco products, because they cared so much about our health?

That’s right. And now they are trying to take credit for a 1% decrease in the number of packs of cigarettes sold in 13 key states where they do business. But critics of the CVS claim see it a little differently and don’t think CVS should get much credit for the improvement.

With such a small percentage of the market, most analysts don’t believe the CVS claim that smokers made the switch from cigarettes to “mostly ineffective nicotine patches and quit smoking. [It] only illustrates how little the company knows about the difficulty of quitting." With so many smokers trying to quit anyway, it’s hard to believe the CVS decision had much influence.

CVS counters that their studies show an impact on public health. Also, a spokeswoman adds that the company is trying to drive impulse buying away from the traditional junk food by “placing healthier foods – such as yogurt and fresh fruit – in key locations in the front of the store.” But they still place homeopathic products under signs that imply real curative power when CFI, the FTC and the FDA see a problem with that.

CVS and many others try to convince us that they are really interested in our health while they sell ineffective homeopathic products, dietary supplements and "alternative" medicines.  I wouldn’t trust them with my health decisions, but I’m a critical thinker.

500

For almost 5 years I have made the case for personal responsibility, accepting that most of our problems arise from our own behavior and that most of our societal problems are merely the accumulation of these poor choices.  This is the 500^th posting on the subject.  Time for a review.

In 1961 the President inspired Americans with the words, “Ask not what your country can do for you.”  Later in that decade a popular chant was, “Power to the people.”  In the past 50 years we seem to have forgotten those messages.  Today Americans stress about the next election, thinking that if they can only elect the right savior, all will be well.  Meanwhile the candidates try to buy votes by promising more government solutions and more government benefits.

We have strayed from a belief in active involvement to one of passive acceptance.  The barrage of crises and national epidemics that dominate the media and political discourse explains this change in part.  We hear that all these problems are too big for us to solve on our own.  The playing field is not level.  The odds are stacked against us.  We need help from politicians and advocates to take on the inequities and massive challenges.  What choice do we have?

The rest of the explanation to this passivity lies in the fact that Americans have forgotten or never understood a basic principle of life:  Behavior has consequences.

These crises and challenges that we constantly hear about do not, for the most part, originate with government.  They are the consequences of individual behaviors that over time build up into those crises and epidemics we keep looking to others to solve.

People got sloppy about their diets.  Food became more plentiful, especially fast and convenience foods.  Laborsaving devises and sedentary jobs kept Americans less active.  Obesity in America grew from 13% to 36%.  This results in increased healthcare costs that are now shared by everyone.  Is this a problem for government to solve?  If we say yes, we relinquish some of our freedom.

Similarly, Americans make spending choices in reaction to hype, scare tactics and emotional appeals.  They fail to distinguish between wants and needs, then reach retirement age with inadequate savings.  Americans spend more money on unproven dietary supplements and other unscientific faux-remedies than on all legitimate healthcare costs.  Instead of setting high standards for their children, parents defend them against teachers’ criticisms, as first generation children of Asian and African immigrants that teach different values outperform them in the same schools.  Forty and fifty years after the Surgeon General’s initial warning, they blame (and sue) tobacco companies for tricking them into smoking and getting addicted, playing the victim, and not understanding that any award or settlement is really money coming from all of us with tobacco or insurance companies acting only as intermediaries.  Failing to take the time to do simple calculations and not reading the fine print leaves them financially overextended.  They trust and defend erroneous medical and nutritional advice gathered from social media.  None of these are governmental problems.  They are personal choices that have spread and morphed into a society headed in the wrong direction.

The 499 previous posts (and many more to follow) present clear and specific examples from the news and advertising of these types of behavior.  Ill-advised behavior leads to unfortunate consequences. In today’s interdependent society, everyone shares in these consequences.  The only way to succeed as a nation, the Real American Solution, is to improve behavior in the five key dimensions, personally and individually, while discouraging, not rewarding or tolerating, the destructive behavior of our neighbors. 

I'm Not Joking

No, I wasn’t joking back in February 2013 when I wrote, “Will airlines charge based on the total weight of the luggage and passenger?

The subject was whether or not overweight people will begin to feel the same kind of pressure from government and businesses as smokers now do.  Secondhand smoke has been declared a danger, especially to children and otherwise can be very irritating to nonsmokers.  Smoking also adds to medical costs, so it is considered in the public interest that the act of smoking be both isolated and discouraged by restrictions and higher prices.  But obesity has social costs of its own.

Have you ever seen or heard a heath publication or advice to prevent or cure a disease that did not include eating less and exercising more or maintaining a healthy weight?  Not taking care of these basics leads to many diseases and increased healthcare costs.  With economic understanding it is easy to establish that healthcare costs accumulated by one segment of society affect the costs of everyone as the total cost is spread over the entire population to make healthcare affordable to all.

So just yesterday on CBS This Morning this news came:  “Airplane maker Airbus has filed a patent for a new kind of adjustable seat that could…change the seating to make room for larger passengers.”  This would most likely come with a fee, and as they say later in the story, “could usher in a day when the airlines could truly price by your size.”

So there it is, three years after the initial warning here.  Along those lines, the general warning remains the same:  when we don’t improve our behavior, economic and governmental forces tend to take over the job for us through penalties, restrictions and by other methods.  Behavior does have consequences.

Caffeinated Underwear

Some might think this is funny, but it just shows how desperate some people are to lose weight, that they could be tricked into spending money on such an obviously bogus product, underwear supposedly laced with caffeine.  The FTC accused two companies of “deceptive advertising that claimed their caffeine-impregnated clothing would cause the wearer to lose weight and have less cellulite.”

The director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection reminds us that “the best approach is tried and true: diet and exercise," and that any time someone tries to sell clothing that guarantees weight loss, don’t believe it.

Apparently the incentive to sidestep this hard work of disciplined behavior is so strong that a few thousand people did buy the various undergarments before the FTC got wind of the scam.  The companies agreed to reimburse them for a total of $1.5 million.

Discipline is the behavioral dimension where it is very easy to explain the actions needed and very difficult to carry them out:  eat less and exercise more, spend less than your net income, stop drinking to excess, quit smoking, set limits when gambling, and just say “no” to many other temptations.  The challenge of these common sense guidelines makes it easy to compound the problem by falling into errors in other areas.  We abandon responsibility by looking for others to blame or looking to others to rescue us.  We are susceptible to the lure of the magic answer, whether it be magic clothing, magic pills, magic devices, or the magic money tree that never has to be paid back.  This weakness makes us easy targets for advertisers and politicians who want to play the role of savior by selling us their special product or political agenda.  They promise magic solutions and give us false hope that the world can be made better by something other than hard work.  As Dr. Phil might say, “How’s that working for you?”

Shame on Us!

As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, critical thinking provides a balanced view of pride, how it can be effective as a motivator but makes no sense when applied to something you can’t control.  It’s healthy to be proud of accomplishments, but foolish and delusional to be proud of characteristics you were born with such as eye color, left-handedness, sexual orientation, height, race, or nationality.  As a left handed person, you can be proud of the accomplishments of other left handed people, but that seems like a waste of time since it has no bearing on your own accomplishments.  As we pick someone to model ourselves after, why do they have to have similar physical characteristics to us?  Wouldn’t it be wiser to model ourselves after good role models regardless of appearance?

On the other side of the coin is shame.  In today’s society, there is no place for shame, embarrassment or failure.  Kids are told they are special and unique, which is true, but they are told this to the point where it overrides the learning available from missteps and failures.  They are praised for everything they do.  They grow up to be disappointed when professors, employers and their social networks don’t pick up where their parents left off with praise and awards just for participating, regardless of results or effort.  Some parents are afraid or too involved in other activities to properly discipline their kids.  It makes a cute news story, recognized in Time magazine and other places, when a convicted drunk driver uses his creativity in a mug shot.

Here is an excerpt from Quiet:  The Power of Introverts, by Susan Cain.  “Consider the mechanism by which kids acquire their sense of right and wrong.  Many psychologists believe that children develop conscience when they do something inappropriate and are rebuked by their caregivers.  Disapproval makes them feel anxious; and since anxiety is unpleasant, they learn to steer clear of antisocial behavior.  This is known as internalizing their parents’ standards of conduct, and its core is anxiety.  But what if some kids are less prone to anxiety than others?  … Often the best way to teach these children values is to give them positive role models.”

Now look at how society functions as we are overwhelmed with messages about self-esteem, compassion, humanitarianism, respect, avoiding offending anyone and the plight of victims.  Whenever some one or some group is perceived as being disadvantaged, instead of asking what behavior led to those consequences and what lessons they need to learn to avoid them in the future, we choose to rescue them, negating the opportunity for learning and enticing others to follow the same path.

Except for smokers, who for some reason have been singled out for a kind of public shunning, we hop on board when others look for an excuse.  We try to blame our problems on the big institutions that talked us into the bad behavior instead of admitting that the final decision was ours.  We blame fast food, big banks, Wall Street, the rich one-percent, drug companies, insurance companies, religious extremists, and more – yes, even big tobacco, because the smokers shouldn’t really be blamed – just isolated.  Then we look to Congress and the President expecting that they will punish the evildoers and bail us, but in reality, the government can’t fix the problems because they can’t legislate good decision-making.  They don’t tell us it’s our fault, because first, they don’t get it, second, they get the same good feelings by playing the rescuer, and third, they fear offending the voters.

Like the drug abuse problem in America, we concentrate on the supply side, pursuing and convicting the pushers while supporting the users with free needles and police trained to treat overdoses.  American society shames the wrong behavior.  We instead shame and condemn the constructive feedback or even gentle criticism aimed at people who deserve that criticism for poor judgment and erroneous behavior.  To do so is labeled offensive, uncompassionate, mean-spirited, disrespectful, uncaring – but it is very much needed!  This censure of disapproval and “caring” support of bad behavior leads inevitably to more of the same.