Who put the "hell" in health? That's a question being asked by a number of doctors who are urging us (women, in particular) to relax and, well, eat a brownie or two.
"We see women who are overwhelmed by health rules," write Drs. Susan Love and Alice Domar in their new book Live A Little!
Love, based in Los Angeles and one of the world's leading breast cancer surgeons, joined Domar, a mind-body expert and assistant professor at Boston's Harvard Medical School, in telling readers that it's time to brush off the health police: "We've come to believe what you probably suspected all along. These (health) rules are a little ridiculous."
The co-authors charge that the health rules of diet, exercise, screenings and sleep that have dominated most of us for the past decade are often unrealistic and based on a shaky foundation. To write the book, they read hundreds of studies — examining each to see how valid they really are. "Plenty (of health rules) are based on scanty evidence or even bald corporate interest," they write.
Having reviewed the evidence of hundreds of studies, they came up with a new measurement of health, one that lets us live a little: The PH Zone — that's pretty healthy, which, the authors claim is pretty good given that not even oat bran can ensure that we live forever.
You know exactly what they're talking about: You eat your bran and your yogurt, feel guilty if you don't get in your daily 10,000 steps, switch to decaf, drive across town to the best organic market, and make sure you don't drink more than two wines a week (glasses, that is.) Yesterday's Superwoman (who supposedly juggled family and career effortlessly) has been replaced by the PBW — that Perfectly Balanced Woman who also is too good to be true. "She makes us feel like failures if we can't live in her constant state of blissful balance," the co-authors write.
Forget that dame with her yoga mat and her impossible rosy glow, because being pretty healthy is about all most of us can manage and that's pretty good. As far as they're concerned there's a PH Zone for everything from sleep to exercise, from nutrition to health screenings.
Lighten up, say the co-authors. You don't need to exercise an hour a day, or eat cups of blueberries daily, or even have a baseline mammogram at age 35. Best news of all for those of us who sleep poorly? There's no evidence that shows we need eight hours of shut-eye to stay healthy or have a strong immune system. The PH Zone? Somewhere around seven hours.
And what about the stress of having to be happy — a state promised by some drug companies and the focus of countless self-help books? Well, life, say the co-authors is neither happy nor crappy: "Most of us have a baseline mood that is neither blissful nor morose. It's a state that allows for everyday ups, downs, disappointments, fears, and joys, but mostly it's neutral."
Just when you think you have your health in perspective, along comes a new disease that you've never had to worry about. That's the way the co-authors look at osteopenia (low bone mass) which is being called a precursor to osteoporosis. But no studies have proven that low bone mass is a predictor of fractures. Isn't it just a normal part of aging, in the same way that it's normal to have grey hair?
As for exercise, there's no reason for today's fussy fitness rules.
For instance, trying to stay in the target-heart-rate zone will drive you bonkers, say the co-authors. "You know when you're working hard, when you're pushing yourself to your very limit, and when you're coasting." So trust yourself.
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well-preserved body," they write. "But rather to skip in sideways, worn out and shouting, 'Holy smokes,what a ride!' Live a little, laugh a little and get into the PH Zone. It's pretty good."
The Myth of Perfect Health
Much of what we have held to be true in terms of prevention is based on shaky evidence. Some myths:
- Drink eight glasses of water a day. (There is no evidence to support this theory.)
- Hormone replacement therapy protects postmenopausal women. (HRT, once applauded by most doctors, has since been shown to have no heart-health benefit and may contribute to breast cancer.)
- Exercise reduces stress. (For some, yes, but for others who feel compelled to workout against their will, stress becomes amplified.)
How to study the studies
Be a skeptic. Ask yourself the following when you hear or read health news:
- What kind of study was done to come to this result? The most reliable kind are randomized, controlled trials in which the participants are carefully screened and then randomly split into two groups: One group gets the new treatment or drug being studied, the other gets a placebo.
- How many people were studied? Don?t get too excited when you read a groundbreaking health study that was done on 10 people. The bigger the better.
- Was it performed on men or women, humans or animals? Cancer has been cured countless times — in rats!
- Was it conducted in an environment that mimics real life?
- Who paid for it? If a drug company pays for a study, there's a question of bias.
