Aging Audaciously: Prevention Wisdom Kicked up a Notch Recap

During the Aging Audaciously event, “Prevention Wisdom Kicked up a Notch,” Disruptive Women cohosted with the Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program at the Library of Congress last Wednesday, our first speaker Dr. Lisa Nelson talked about the culture change that is necessary to transition from pill-centered treatment to lifestyle-focused prevention.
In the early 1900s, she said, infectious diseases, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and tuberculosis, were the top three causes of death. To drive down the rates of these diseases, providers prescribed pills and vaccines and public health campaigns were commissioned to spread awareness. These were critically needed and valuable solutions.
Now, however, as we are faced with alarming rates of cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, which Nelson called “slow-accumulating diseases,” our behaviors, such as diet, exercise and sleep patterns, are the first line or prevention and can be game changers.
It’s the dialogue and mentality, she said, that needs to change. Too often we crave absolutes and definite answers on what to eat, what not to eat, how to exercise and when to sleep.
“Nuance is not something we Americans are great at,” Nelson said. “Nuance doesn’t sell; moderation doesn’t sell.”
Nelson pointed to numerous studies that prove that investing in our minds and bodies, and not just taking medication, will have a vast impact on preventing future illnesses. Nelson used cholesterol reducing pills as an ex...

Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - March 24, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Aging Source Type: blogs