Health is one of those things in life where your experience of it comes from thousands and thousands of small decisions – similar in a way to parenting. If I eat that fast-food burger, but go for a run later, do they cancel each other out? Red wine is a fantastic anti-oxidant, so more must be better, right?
Defining “success” in health is really difficult so it falls to interpretation, personal style, level of effort, and dare I say, obsessiveness. Something shifted in the last few decades in these most fortunate of generations – the boomers and the Gen Xers. Yes, we live in a way-too-much-information world and carry a much higher chemical load, but we also worry too much about our children, what we eat and our health. Isn’t worrying really bad for your health?
While there is all kinds of information on how you can work towards better (and sometimes overly perfected) health, there is a lot less around on how to manage a “just enough” attitude towards your health. I found two great resources written by doctors for some straight-up evaluation of clinical research combined practical experience from their own practices. The reassuring answer from both docs is that there is a lot of value in being “pretty healthy”. And those excursions to the land of bad habits? Keep them under control and they may not cause all the trouble they’re accused of.
The Healthy Guide to Unhealthy Living is like sitting down over a couple of drinks with a friend who also happens to be a doctor. David Clayton writes for people in and around thirty who’ve “been known to drink, smoke, hook up, work too hard, or eat fast food for six meals in a row”. While Dr. Clayton always emphasizes the healthiest strategies to deal with a hectic urban life, he also gives straight-up advice on which Rx drugs help with stress and insomnia, how to hack a hangover (add a multivitamin with Bs and a nasal decongestant to your ibuprofen before you crash – who knew?), how to safely crash diet, which drugs permanently mess up your brain chemistry and all kinds of goodies about sex. Good for people in that stage of life, but also good for their anxious parents.
Live a Little is targeted at women who are juggling family and work and who are taking all those health articles about detoxing way too much to heart. Dr. Susan Love and Alice Domar get real about the prevailing health “musts” in six areas – sleep, stress, preventive care, exercise, nutrition, and personal relationships. They’ve done the heavy lifting of breaking down hundreds of studies and consulted with other experts in each field. They have questionnaires in each section so you can see if you are living in the “pretty healthy” zone. The good news . . . “just enough” health doesn’t require any obsessiveness at all! I love that they cop to eating a pound of fettuccine alfredo on a bad day, not starting exercising until 50, and screaming at their families for stress relief – just like the rest of us. You can also find them at www.bewell.com.