And Texas Caves In

fj12ryder wrote:

rltorpey wrote:
The best defense against a Pandemic is to be basically healthy and to have a strong immune system. There are a lot of pathogens in the environment and you can't live in a bubble forever. SARS-CoV2, influenza, MRSA, rhinoviruses, noroviruses. Chances are good that you're going to be exposed and your best defense is to be healthy in the first place and to have a strong immune system that can fight off the disease.

Stay fit by exercising regularly, eat a mostly healthy diet, try to get enough sleep, find a way to relieve stress other than eating (exercise helps), don't smoke. It's really pretty simple.

We transport a lot of patients who are my age and younger who are in terrible health and it's often due to lifestyle choices. These people are high risk not just to Covid 19 but also to influenza, coronary artery disease, diabetes, stroke, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Many of our patients now are so obese that we have to call the fire department for lift assist because 2 of us can't lift them into the ambulance.

We could blame the healthcare system but at some point it comes down to each of us being responsible for our own health and not letting ourselves become a burden on the healthcare system and a burden on society. There will always be patients who struggle with diseases that are beyond their control. Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, many forms of cancer. Those people all have my deepest sympathy and I am honored to be able to assist them. But we have way too many people in this country who have serious health problems that are the result of poor lifestyle choices. I'm happy to assist them, too, but I wish they would start doing some of the things that they could do to help themselves.

It would be great if all that you said would hold true, but it doesn't always work that way. When the "Spanish Flu" hit in the early part of the 20th century, the highest death rate was among the young, and the healthy. It appeared that the disease actually caused the bodies' immune system to attack itself.

While I agree that healthy is better, it is no silver bullet. I have a friend who was a bicycle racer, inline skates enthusiast, and in excellent physical shape, but was sidelined by a heart attack while out on a bike ride. That was a few years ago when he was in his 40's. Jim Fixx, an avid runner, and arguably the moving force behind the running fad in the 80's, died at a relatively young age, with a heart attack.

Nature vs nurture. Tough call, but you got to do what you can.

Sometimes IMHO "young and in shape" may not be all that it seems. It may not mean those class of folks are "healthy" just because they're not overweight and move around a lot.

I once read an article that has really stuck in my mind: The author stated that the best way to insure that one is healthy, and stays that way, is by the continual monitoring of one's blood chemistry and continually adjusting one's exercise and food so as to maintain their ideal chemistry profile between blood tests. I believe that the author had a complete blood workup every 6 months and would make lifestyle adjustments based on any factors changing too much, or any factors that were out of range.

Maybe - in America at least - young is not always healthy and/or fit ... regardless of their seemingly good body weight index and amount of repetitive body movements. :h