2017 is off to an atrocious start. For me, this has nothing to do with politics. I was diagnosed with cancer, again. An entirely separate kind of cancer unrelated to my original cancer. For someone who does the things usually recommended for good health, two cancer diagnoses in less than four years, both before age…
What makes life worth living? Good question, huh? I just read the book When Breath Becomes Air. It is the memoir of Dr. Paul Kalanithi who died in 2015 from lung cancer at age 37. Dr. Kalanithi was a neurosurgery resident when he was diagnosed with advanced cancer. It is a beautiful book. Dr. Kalanithi…
Are you confused by all of the seemingly conflicted nutritional advice out there? I know I am, and I’m a doctor. I actively seek out nutritional information and for the most part feel like I am well informed. Yet I still question my food choices. Both what I chose to eat for myself and my…
The new year is upon us. Time to reflect on the year that is over and consider what you want to accomplish in the year ahead. Otherwise known as New Year’s Resolutions. I have mixed feelings about NYRs. On one hand, NYRs are all about changing or establishing new habits, which is a good…
Did you see these headlines last week? The New York Times said, “Happiness Doesn’t Bring Good Health, Study Finds” and similarly, the Atlantic stated, “Happiness Doesn’t Help You Live Longer.” These headlines came from a study published in the Lancet last week on happiness and mortality. It was a large prospective study, which lends validity…
Happy and healthy go hand in hand. Happier people are healthier. They live longer, have less chronic disease, become sick less often, and if they do get sick, they get better faster. Being happy is clearly in our best interest, and we do have some control over our own happiness. We control approximately 40 percent…