Medical Professionals Are Revealing The Everyday “Bad” Habits That Are Slowly Ruining Your Health

Note: Some answers were pulled from this Reddit thread by u/Sea_Fig1387 and this one by u/setelemtresspasser.

1. “I’m a surgical associate (PA). Don’t let your abdominal pain go on for a week before you seek medical attention. Operating on a gallbladder that’s been infected for a week, for example, is astronomically more challenging than if you went in when it first started. It also puts you at higher risk for intraoperative complications.”

—Anonymous

2. “Not taking care of your joints and using proper form during exercise. Pushing through discomfort is good. Pushing through pain is not – your body is trying to tell you something!! Also, warming up and cooling down are essential, not optional!!”

—tlpg92

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3. “Eating excessive processed foods. Processed foods have “hidden” sugars and other bad ingredients. Processed foods bypass your body’s real and necessary “food processor” from chewing with saliva for fiber that cleans the lower parts of the alimentary canal.”

—stylishsquid1271

4. “Internal medicine PA here. Not having an age-appropriate cancer screening is just negligent. Early detection can save your life. Get the pap smear, the mammogram, the annual full skin check, the screening colonoscopy (or do the non-invasive cologuard and skip the prep and procedure altogether; if it’s abnormal, you still need a cancer screening scope, if you are), and meet the cancer criteria.”

“Men, talk to your provider about PSA Prostate-Specific Antigen testing (age 55-69). Refer to the USPSTF screening guidelines.”

—Anonymous, 46 years old, Minnesota

5. “Brushing your teeth is only half the job. Flossing removes food particles that are stuck between your teeth and your gums. If left too long, they break down and become acidic, slowly chipping away at your enamel.”

“Well, brushing immediately after vomiting will worsen the damage to your teeth from stomach acids. Rinse your mouth with warm water and bi-card soda to prevent further damage!”

—u/tminor94

6. “I work in the ER. Actually follow up with your doctors: If I tell you to see someone, you have to do it. The reason your condition gets worse is that you don’t really know anything about it, so you can’t tell when you need intervention or not. That’s what your doctors are for, and that’s why I tell you to see them even if you feel fine now.”

—u/YoungSerious

7. “You don’t wash your hands after: A) blowing your nose; B) bathroom breaks; C) handling pets, pet food, and litter boxes; D) cooking or eating, before and after; E) removing cleaning or medical gloves; F) doing first aid, before and after; G) visiting someone who is sick; back home; and I) your hands get dirty.”

—Anonymous, 72, Texas

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8. “It goes beyond vaccination. There’s a reason why certain diseases are eradicated (ie, polio), there’s a reason people live longer, and there’s a reason there’s a consistent decline in cervical and HPV-associated oral cancer.”

—gaba2191

9. “To emphasize the importance of not smoking, if you smoke and get lung cancer from smoking, he said the cancer will be much more aggressive, has no actionable mutations and low immunogenicity, making the treatment options much more limited and less effective.”

—gaba2191

10. “I’m a first responder who works alongside medical professionals in the field of public safety. For the love of God, if you get into something high-risk, wear a helmet. Engage in ego-driven bad habits and risk-taking will eventually kill you. I’ve seen crashes at 35 mph with no helmet resulting in death, and 55 mph vs. away, and she needed a new helmet.’ You only have one skull, one mind and one life. Don’t let ‘I need to feel the wind on my face’ or ‘helmets are for bad riders’ be the reason you don’t use one.”

“My family was devastated when my mother’s brother hit another deer on his motorcycle, and ended up in organ donation – his skull was destroyed. Wear a damn helmet. And a seat belt. Or a flack jacket. Wear whatever your sport has for protective gear; your loved ones will thank you for it, and if you live to old age, your older future self will thank you too!“

—Anonymous, 37, Wisconsin

Related: “Young People Will Be Surprised By This”: 21 “Easily To Swallow” Truths About Getting Old That No One Talks About

11. “Not stretching. Even 10 minutes a day can do wonders for your health.”

—[redacted]

12. “If you are diagnosed with a chronic problem, such as congestive heart failure, diabetes, kidney failure, etc., we take a lot of time to teach you how to take care of yourself. Please, do follow the instructions. If you do not understand, please let us know so we can continue working with you. Do these things so you don’t get readmitted to the hospital again, because this will continue to happen until one day you are wheeled out of the funeral home. We hate to see you kill yourself slowly.”

—[redacted]

13. “TAKE YOUR MEDICINE IF IT’S PRESCRIBED TO YOU. I can’t count the number of people I see who have a known issue, then develop another problem, and when I ask if they’re taking their medication, they say, ‘Well, I didn’t think I needed it, so I stopped.’ I don’t care if you feel good; if your blood pressure is 200/110, you can go from ‘fine’ to ‘hemorrhage in my brain’ in a second.”

—u/YoungSerious

14. “When you are given prescribed antibiotics, take them as prescribed and don’t keep some extra so you can use them the next time you are sick.”

“Well, if you’re told to follow something, you should probably follow it… We don’t say you come back for any reason.”

—u/alex_subo

15. “Ignoring your irregular sleep patterns and not getting enough sleep in general!”

—Anonymous, 65, Arizona

16. “Educate yourself about your health, your conditions, your medications, etc. It amazes me that people get prescriptions and don’t know what they’re for, or that they don’t know the basics of the conditions they’ve been diagnosed with. “I don’t know” is a common answer anymore. Why don’t you know? Why don’t you know things about your own body?”

“The internet is a vast research tool that you should be using, and there are countless ways you can utilize it to help you understand and make informed decisions about your health.”

—wandering storm

Related: 22 “Mild” Health Symptoms People Often Ignore Until It’s Too Late

And finally…

17. “Medical diet student here. A healthy diet includes VARIETY!!! Eat a variety of whole grains, nuts, beans, fruits, vegetables, and lean meats.”

—u/severebabyface

Note: Some answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, what other “bad” health habits do they not realize are seriously harmful? Let us know in the comments, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.

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