Recently, Redditor u/bishinishii asked medical professionals in the Reddit community to share the health-related things everyone should be doing but not doing, and some of these responses may be a wake-up call. Here is the advice that those in the medical field are asking everyone to consider taking:
1. “Increase your fiber intake, especially the gooey kind from oats, chia, okra, etc. It helps lower cholesterol in several ways, plus you’ll shit more easily.”
—Five-O-Vicryl
2. “You have an advanced directive and encourage your elderly relatives to have one too. A lot less people will want to be full code if you see us doing CPR on your 90-year-old grandmother.”
—nerd_fighter_
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3. “Schedule preventive health exams and screening procedures as soon as you are eligible (mammogram, colonoscopy, etc.) and always stretch.”
—Hot artichoke6317
4. “Brush your teeth!”
– Celebrinda
5. “Wash. Your hands. Hand sanitizer doesn’t count in most cases. Norovirus will hit hard, and alcohol-based sanitizer won’t kill. Use soap and water for at least 20 seconds.”
—qwertyuiko
6. “I’m into accounts, but many people don’t realize that you can apply for financial assistance for medical bills, especially from major hospitals. They make the majority of their money from insurance companies, so many hospitals have funds set aside for “charity” – they just don’t tell you. I had a free hysterectomy at Vanderbilt. After you receive the bill, you can call the account department and you can send as financial aid. tax returns to prove that I broke, but it is super easy if you qualify.
—sparkleytophat
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7. “Breathe. Take a few deep, purposeful breaths here and there. Pause for a second. Breathe into your belly (to engage the diaphragm). As long as you’re breathing, you’re alive. Alive is good.”
—gypsum
8. “Flossing.”
—fetal photographer
“Waiting for this one. Dental health is crucial to overall good health.”
—Anderkimsen
9. “DON’T SMOKE. Don’t smoke at all. Just do it. Your lungs, heart, blood vessels, and everything else in your body will be so much better.”
—casapantalones
10. “People should be involved in some kind of exercise program that they can tolerate and will participate in. Make it fun, like walking while listening to your favorite podcast. You don’t need to break records, just move your body. I tell people all the time if exercise was a pill, everyone would be on it.”
—thomport
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11. “Magnesium supplement. I’m an emergency medicine pharmacist, and many people have magnesium deficiency, even if the labs are normal, because that lab represents magnesium in circulation, not cells (which is where magnesium is needed most). I take magnesium glycinate (highest absorption) and threonate. rare, but err on the side of caution.”
—tikosyn_daydream
12. “As someone who works in an ambulance, you know your damn medical conditions and medications. The number of times I pick up people who have a Ziploc full of pills mixed up or conditions they can’t remember is amazing. A very real conversation I had this month started with me asking, ‘Do you have any medical conditions?’ They said, ‘No.’ I asked, ‘Do you take any medicines?’ They replied, ‘Yes, insulin.’ GET A FUCK TOGETHER!”
—ButtSexington3rd
13. “Clean any wound you have! Even if it’s just a paper cut, please go wash it.”
—Advanced Mode9966
14. “From your 20s onward, actually start going to the doctor. Even if it costs you something, like, $500 a year for one visit, catching things early is priceless. Second, start planning for retirement seriously. A rainy day fund for old age means you’ll be able to go home and get decent care. You won’t need money when you turn 60. 30.”
—Dr_Esquire
15. “Every single person should know a fair amount of nutrition. Almost everything that people are taught about it is wrong.”
—Firm_Ratio_621
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16. “People should fight colds themselves. You don’t get a sinus infection at the same time every year; you don’t need antibiotics, because they won’t help a virus. Stop asking for antibiotics because you ‘know your body’. You do you know your body, but you probably don’t understand how bacteria vs. viruses work, how medicine works, etc. You don’t need an antibiotic! The obsession with antibiotics in American medicine is wild. Patients think you’re holding a hidden gem of medicine.”
—Important Detective34
17. Finally: “Everyone should be fighting for reform and Medicare for all.”
The Good Brigade / Getty Images
—low visions
BRB, scheduling a doctor’s appointment as we speak. If you are a medical professional, what is something that everyone should be doing, but not? Let us know in the comments, or you can submit your tips anonymously using the form below!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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