Only one in three people in the United States say their doctor advised them to start exercising or continue doing so during an office visit over the course of a year, a new government study shows.
This startling fact is courtesy of a recent article in the Chicago Sun-Times. It amazes me that medical professionals, regardless of whether they think the patient will follow through, are not suggesting that patients begin or continue exercising.
The abundance of evidence in favor of exercising daily is so overwhelming that it seems to be a no-brainer to me. After finally watching Forks Over Knives last night, the above fact rattled me even more. It seems that so many Americans just can’t be bothered to change their diet or exercise and would rather just pop pills to manage their medical conditions.
When I worked for Pfizer, I sold Lipitor for several years–at the time the number 1 most prescribed drug in the country. When I would speak to physicians, they would often say that their first piece of advice to patients with high cholesterol was to modify their lifestyle. However, patients rarely changed their diet and exercise habits and felt that it was easier to take prescription drugs every day. Does that mean we should stop advising them to do so??
We have to start realizing what this is costing our society, not only in terms of dollars, but years off of people’s lives. It saddens me that my children’s generation may be the first to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. As parents and as a society, we need to start taking accountability for our health.
Are you surprised that only 1 in 3 patients stated that their doctor advised them to start or continue exercising? What are you thoughts on improving the health of future generations?
I find this frightening, but true. I am hoping that sooner or later folks will “get it” and start moving to live healthier and much happier lives.
I hope so too Janice, for our health and the health of our future generations!
This is sadly shocking to me – just think about how much healthier we’d all be if we were consistently exercising as a society. It’s sad that we’ve gotten to this point of unhealthiness as a country, especially since we’re the RICHEST country in the world, yet we can’t even make the connection to working out as a way to live a longer, healthier, happier life?? Crazy. Great, great post.
Jess, I agree completely! Have you ever seen Forks Over Knives? If you haven’t check it out–it brings your point home big time! 🙂
I’m not surprised. But I’m not sure how accurate the data is.
I was recently sent a survey by my HMO asking me various questions about my dr. visits. One question was did my dr advise me to exercise. No. Because I saw my doctor 1 time in 2 years for a UTI. It was urgent care hours and there wasn’t really time for the discussion. I answered the question truthfully, but there was no room for explanation in the survey.
My husband, however, was told to exercise and lose about 40 lbs. He told his doctor he was going to start losing weight and exercising. He wasn’t horribly fat. He looked average. According to the BMI charts he was obese. Not morbidly obese, but more than just overweight. He said he wanted to lose 20 lbs, she said lose 40. This was a check up for some health issues that probably were a cause of his weight. So the conversation came up naturally. He was not put on any meds, they wanted to see if diet/exercise would work first. And it did. For the record, he lost 55 lbs and kept most of it off.
To be fair, the data did include visits from annual exams AND other visits, so you make a very valid point Christine! I am glad that your husband got the right guidance and is doing such a great job!! 🙂
It doesn’t surprise me at all, sadly, but I don’t think that it’s just the fault of doctors not suggesting exercise. I think part of it is due to our medical system and the different pressures that are placed on doctors by insurance companies and HMOs to be efficient as well as the culture in our country for a quick fix, like you said, the preference to pop a pill rather than make a longer-term changes which is hard. While I think that doctors have a responsibility to encourage exercise, I can also see how they may be so tired and discouraged by patients not taking their advice. Not an excuse but I can understand.
I worked for a while trying to promote community-based efforts to increase access to healthy food and physical activity especially for kids – seems like a no brainer, right? No way. Hardest job I ever had and a lot of the resistance came from parents themselves and from communities that had the most at stake. It made me recognize that change must happen on a systemic level, both in terms of government policies on food, transportation, healthcare, etc. but also among us as a society. Sorry for the rant.
Don’t apologize for the rant–love your comments! 🙂 I agree that physicians and other healthcare providers do probably get tired of saying the same thing day in and day out, but I guess my thought is that you never know when the message will sink in– if it gets through to even one person, that could be a life saved. 🙂 Sadly, I am not shocked by your experience in community-based healthcare initiatives. I see it every day in my neighborhood. I 100% agree that it’s going to take a HUGE system over haul for us to get on the right track…
It is a very, very sad statistic. Unfortunately one that I live with every day in the form of my stepdad.
His blood pressure and cholesterol fall into what is considered the “normal” range, even though he is obese, so no one tells him to change anything. He states the typical excuse, “I don’t have time.” Yet sits every morning for an hour watching television.
It’s sad to think that such a large portion of society is the same way.
I know Samantha– it’s like if people just took even a half hour out of their day to walk, it would be a start towards changing unhealthy habits!