Out of NOK 100 spent on health today, NOK 97 goes to repair, and only NOK 3 goes to prevention. It is at best ethically dubious, at worst it can be illegal. We are now sitting on a significant amount of knowledge and technological resources that can guide people towards a healthier lifestyle. In the past, we assumed that diseases struck us randomly, either as a result of unfortunate life circumstances or our genetic makeup. We now assume that 80 percent of the diseases we treat are related to lifestyle. Even if we inherit a genetic vulnerability to develop type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, it is not necessarily the case that exactly these genes are activated. This is where lifestyle comes into play. Lifestyle diseases also involve dementia, cancer, heart disease, kidney failure, stroke and a number of autoimmune diseases. For many, it comes as a surprise that mental disorders also largely have a so-called metabolic cause. A failing metabolic health can be about poor energy turnover in the cells, poor blood sugar regulation, unfavorable blood lipids, obesity and high blood pressure. These conditions damage the cells over time. Disease can occur decades after the damage mechanisms have started to wreak havoc on the cells. When our cells fail, with too much inflammation and poor energy turnover as a result of an unfavorable lifestyle, the symptoms and diseases will appear in various organs. Therefore, the medical bestseller list is topped by the ingredients in the typical inflammation cocktail: Medicines for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, pain, stomach acid, depression, and allergies. We therefore believe that the doctor must enter the field earlier. Now the advice is not to see your GP before the symptoms appear. This is because test answers and investigations can lead to findings that turn out to be harmless. But we are puzzled by this. This can be perceived as if the only thing doctors should contribute is to order tests and examinations, and not give good health advice? It is hardly a good use of the expertise that the doctor has. The hospitals get paid for procedures and codes, the sicker and more complex the treatment, the more money. There is an annoying tendency for a system that is the solution to a problem to tend to maintain the problem it is the solution to. In a large American study, researchers examined the lifestyle of 719,000 former soldiers. The findings were presented at a conference organized by the American Society of Nutrition in July this year. They looked at 8 different lifestyle factors that affect health. They found that men who had all the good habits from the age of 40 lived an average of 24 years longer than those who had none of them. The women in the study lived 21 years longer on average if they could tick all the boxes. Do you start at age 50 instead? No problem, the study found that it could give you a full 21 years longer life. And if you started at 60, you could gain an extra 18 years if you introduced all eight healthy habits. These were the lifestyle factors: Having good social relationships Good sleep Not drinking alcohol regularly Good diet Little stress Not smoking Not abusing opiates Being physically active Quite simple things, then. Well-known health-promoting factors. But it is how powerful these lifestyle factors are that is so interesting. Is it ethically and legally sound to wait to treat people until they are sick, now that we know what keeps us healthy? Could we in a few years be sued by cancer sufferers, dementia sufferers and heart patients for whom we did not give preventive advice 15-20 years in advance, while it was possible to stop the development? Can they justify that it was dereliction of duty not to know? In the same way that a builder who advises people to build on clay soil can be held liable for the damages caused by a landslide that sweeps the house away? We have many opportunities to improve our cells, and thus the function of the heart, brain, blood vessels, intestinal system, liver, kidney, skin, immune system and all the other organs that work for us. Best of all, the measures are free or very cheap. That’s also the downside. There is little commercial pressure behind a healthy diet, forest walks, good fitness, sun, cold showers, good sleep, fasting cures, friendship and breathing exercises. That what keeps the cells healthy is so cheap and available evens out the differences in society. It is when you get sick that you can buy your way past the queue. It’s not about blaming someone for your illness. Both the healthcare system and society must be rigged so that it can be easier to live healthy. Perhaps we can change the society we live in from being a disease-causing society where the simplest choices are often unhealthy, to a society that makes it easy to make good choices? This requires a radical political change. Such a change will be for the better for the population and for the better for the economy. What are we waiting for? We believe that the authorities must take action and make it possible for doctors and medical students to receive further training in the new findings on preventive health. We in the healthcare system must also be given more time to work preventively, so that we can help our patients before they become ill. And finally – make time and space to use sleep, diet, exercise and stress management as part of the treatment. To put it somewhat bluntly: We must stop simply fixing people after they have become ill, and rather start building health for the individual patient and society as a whole. We have no time to lose. The preventive health revolution must start now!
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A sick healthcare system – Statement
