Even A Serious Health Scare May Not Be Enough To Get Patients To Improve Health Habits

In the Los Angeles Times (5/23) “The MD” column, Valerie Ulene, MD, a preventive medicine specialist, observes that “even a serious health scare may not be enough” to get patients to shake habits deleterious to their health, such as eating too much salt, smoking, drinking too much, or not exercising. This is the case, even though “after a serious illness, lifestyle changes often have the potential to dramatically improve a person’s overall health and quality of life. In fact, lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet and physical activity strongly influence how rapidly many diseases will progress.”