In the fall of 2023, the first Tinkoff Magazine conference was held.
We talked about how to save, earn, increase, protect and spend your money. On the conference website You can view the list of reports and access recordings of presentations.
Neurologist, medical director of the Semeynaya chain of clinics Pavel Brand told how to stay healthy with a minimum of effort and cost. We took notes on the doctor’s report.
What does health consist of?
Health means not only the absence of disease and physical defects. World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.
Several factors influence human health:
They always work together, but scientists are trying to calculate which of them are more significant, that is, which should be given more attention to people and health systems.
We spend a lot of effort, time and money on receiving medical services. By reducing health care costs and shifting resources to positive lifestyle changes, we will achieve much greater health benefits while spending much less.
How genetics affects health
Changing the genetic factors that influence us is extremely difficult. Mutations leading to hereditary diseases arise at the moment of conception or appear at the stage of embryonic development – we cannot influence these processes.
However, we can correct the impact of genetic variations on health by knowing the characteristics of our body and changing our lifestyle in accordance with them. For example, if a person is predisposed to diabetes, it is obvious that he needs to observe certain restrictions in food, and if he is predisposed to hypertension, monitor his blood pressure. These are very simple actions that do not require special financial investments, but they will make a significant contribution to disease prevention.
How to find out your predispositions? Today we have access to genetic tests that assess individual susceptibility to certain diseases. They are expensive, but they are not always necessary. Most people, even without tests, have a good idea of what diseases they are predisposed to, thanks to observation of relatives.
How the environment affects health
The environment is another important factor that predicts what our health will be like in the future. Let me note that the conditions that determine the environment include not only biological, physical, chemical, but also socio-economic.
It is obvious that people born and living, for example, in the desert and in the regions of the Far North, experience different environmental influences: nutrition, air temperature, water composition, social and economic conditions differ. And of course, these different influences will lead to different health outcomes.
For example, it is known that multiple sclerosis is less likely to affect people born and live in the southern regions than those born and raised in the north. We do not know exactly what is the reason for this distribution, since we generally have little knowledge of the pathogenesis, that is, the mechanism of development of multiple sclerosis. But we know that if a child born in the south moves to the north before the age of 13-14, his risk of developing multiple sclerosis increases.
Another example concerns socio-economic factors. There is no doubt that living in regions where the ability to consume enough protein foods is limited puts people’s health at greater risk than living in prosperous countries. The same applies to access to clean water: if it is not there, the risks for people seriously increase.
Changing environmental factors is not easy, but it is generally possible. You can move to a region with more optimal conditions or create a healthier environment around you.
How lifestyle affects health
Lifestyle is something that we can modify very seriously, and it is the living conditions: nutrition, sleep, sports, bad habits, stress, hygiene that very significantly determine our health.
Bad habits. It is advisable to give up smoking, drinking alcohol, and excessive sugar consumption. Moreover, this step not only does not require costs, but, on the contrary, allows you to save. Cigarettes, alcohol, sweet carbonated drinks, fast food – all this is not cheap.
Proper nutrition. In the modern world, a person who lives not in the starving regions of Africa, but in the middle zone, in most European and Asian countries, has access to more or less normal nutrition. And if he follows his diet, then most likely he will not have any deficits or surpluses. At the same time, healthy eating does not necessarily mean expensive products. Healthy food can be quite cheap and accessible.
The main products of the Mediterranean diet contain a maximum of beneficial nutrients, vitamins and minerals in the right proportions, making it optimal for a healthy lifestyle. At the same time, the Mediterranean diet does not impose strict rules and restrictions: expensive and exotic foods and dishes for Russia can be replaced with cheap and familiar analogues
Dream. If you want to remain a healthy person, you need to get enough sleep, on average 8-9 hours a day. And it doesn’t require any special expenses: buy a pillow, mattress and blanket – and you’re ready to sleep. Although, if you wish, you can do without them.
Sports. Going to the gym regularly can be expensive. But no one bothers you to run or ride a bike; if this is the north, you can go skiing or skating. Even just walking will make you feel much better—and improve your health at almost no cost.
Stress. Stress is a little more difficult to deal with. We are in a situation of permanent stress, and it is not always possible to eliminate the factors that cause it. But we can learn to respond to it correctly: we can master the practices of meditation, self-regulation, self-soothing, and working with our own anxiety. To do this, you don’t have to visit a psychotherapist or yoga trainer, which is also not cheap. Connecting with loved ones, talking to priests if you are religious, taking online yoga classes are all free ways to cope with stress and anxiety.
Hygiene. This is perhaps the easiest point to complete. If you brush your teeth and take a bath at least once a day, your chances of staying healthy increase significantly. And soap and toothpaste are quite inexpensive.
How accessibility and quality of medical care affect health
Vaccination. This is a simple way, at the expense of the state or for little money, to improve your own health prospects by avoiding vaccine-preventable infections, that is, those diseases that we can control through vaccination.
In Russia there is a National Vaccination Calendar, and vaccinations from it are paid for by the state. There are not many additional vaccines that are not included in this calendar, and they are relatively inexpensive. It is also advisable to get vaccinated with them in order to get maximum protection.
Screenings. This is a set of specially designed studies that allow you to identify a disease or a predisposition to it even before symptoms appear. Thanks to screening, disease can be cured or prevented more effectively and at lower cost. This became possible because we have accumulated a lot of data that suggests which diseases are at higher risk in groups of certain genders and ages.
If you have the financial opportunity to undergo sex and age screening in a private clinic, that’s great. If there are no resources or desire to spend money on this, you can replace it with medical examination. From 18 to 40 years of age, a person has the right to receive free medical examinations from the state once every three years. And people over 40 years old can undergo it annually. The clinical examination program does not always coincide with optimal gender and age screenings, but it covers some of the research.
General examinations at the first stage of medical examination and during a medical examination
General examinations at the first stage of medical examination and during a medical examination
Emergency medical care. The availability and quality of emergency medical care play a huge role, because it is resorted to in very serious situations when a person literally needs to be saved. In our country, the distribution is uneven, but in large cities things are usually quite good.
Planned medical care. It is difficult to influence emergency situations, but we can change our environment and lifestyle so that we are less likely to seek routine medical care. It is much less accessible throughout the world: in many foreign countries you have to wait weeks for an appointment for a scheduled appointment. In Russia, things are better with this, but not ideal. Our goal is to live in such a way as to minimize the need for routine medical care. And for this you need to lead a healthy lifestyle, create a prosperous environment around yourself and undergo all screenings on time.
How else to save on medicine
Don’t fall for advertising. There is one more simple action we can take to be healthy without spending extra money: stop responding to advertisements for medical products.
The simplest and closest example to everyone is ARVI. Acute respiratory viral infections cannot be treated, so there is no point in purchasing cold tablets for either children or adults. There is a well-known saying: if ARVI is not treated, it will go away in seven days, and if treated, it will go away in a week. This also applies to some other popular diseases and drugs. It is better to check with your doctor whether you should trust this or that medicine.
Avoid unnecessary medical services in favor of lifestyle modifications. There is no need to undergo regular examinations to reassure yourself. Ask your doctor which gender and age screening program is right for you.
Let me clarify that screenings alone are not enough. You can visit a doctor every month, undergo all kinds of tests, but if you continue to lead an unhealthy lifestyle and experience the adverse effects of environmental factors, you will not become healthier.
Live a healthy lifestyle – it’s the only magic pill that exists.
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2024-01-12 10:46:44
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