7 Stories About Profound Changes in Health and Wellness This Millennium
Our 25-Year Checkup, plus other actionable health features
Welcome back to your weekly dose of wisdom and wellness, helping you make tomorrow a little better than today. Below you’ll find links to several in-depth, actionable stories by Wise & Well’s team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals. But first, our final installment in our series, the 25-Year Checkup: big developments since the turn of the millennium that have had significant effects on our health and wellness.
25 Years of Incredible Advances in Heart Disease Treatment
When you read of the new cardiovascular treatments and surgical procedures this physician has seen be developed since the turn of the millennium, you’re apt to wonder: Why is heart disease still the №1 killer? The answer is a lesson for our healthcare system broadly, but more importantly for each of us who might wish to hang around a while and stay healthy.
The past quarter century has witnessed the best of American medical innovation and ingenuity along with new basic medical knowledge, resulting in truly remarkable advances in care. Unfortunately, Americans have become less and less healthy, negating many of the benefits of our advances. Heart disease death rates had declined for decades until recently when they plateaued and began to rise.
—Stephen Schimpff MD, MACP
Previous articles in the series:
Social Media in the New Millennium is Crushing Our Self-Esteem
The Surge in Transgender Individuals Generates Huge Pushback
Perimenopause is More Confusing Than Ever. What No One Told You but Should Have.
THIS WEEK’S OTHER FEATURES
A selection of our informative, entertaining and actionable stories
Shall We All Just Go Bananas?
I love bananas. They’re tasty, nutritious, and ripe for lots of good puns and dad jokes. So I love how this psychiatrist peeled back the science of humor and joy—and even an appreciation of bananas—as ways to lower blood pressure, improve mood and boost overall well-being, during these trying times. Crazy? Nah, but a bit bananas for sure. I mean, just look at one of the experiments he writes about:
In a series of carefully conducted experiments, University of Frankfurt economist Lisa Eckmann and collaborators examined the in-store and online responses of grocery shoppers to assess preferences when buying bananas. Bins of bunched bananas were placed adjacent to bins of single bananas. The researchers then added signs which included a picture of a banana with a sentence to encourage buying single bananas. On some signs, they placed eyes and a mouth on the banana and altered the wording to match the facial expression on the drawing.
—John Kruse MD, PhD
Exercise Microdosing: What’s the Least You Can Do?
My commitment to exercise waxes and wanes. Sometimes I’m at it intensely for an hour or more most days. Other times — like lately thanks to cold, short days — I back off (or slack off, depending on how honest I am). But always I keep in mind that even small bursts of activity-minutes or even seconds-add up positively for fitness and health. Scientists call it high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or, more colloquially, exercise snacks or exercise microdosing.
Microdosing experiments typically involve truly intense workouts, all-out effort that pushes heart rate to the max. But don’t be put off. New research evaluated the effects of vigorous bursts that can be part of everyday life, such as climbing stairs, carrying a heavy load, a game of tag with a kid — any challenging activity that gets you out of your physical comfort zone in short spurts. Anyone, no matter how out of shape, can benefit.
—Robert Roy Britt
Chronic Pain Cost Me $2 Million
Insurance often masks the true price of US medical care for those fortunate to have good coverage, but for many people, battling injury or disease can cost the proverbial arm and a leg. Our writer has been through this wringer for decades now, and he’s added up the total estimated (sometimes outrageous) costs of his chronic pain care. And he’s got a great idea for how to slash the costs.
The 2025 cost of chronic pain likely approaches the $1 trillion mark in the US. The research showed out-of-pocket costs made up 17% of payments for pain, so sufferers like me shelled out between $44 and $50 billion in those 2010 dollars. Inflate that to be nearer to $100 billion today.
—Randall H. Duckett
No, We Don’t Eat a Credit Card’s Microplastics Per Week
Amid the legitimately worrisome science about tiny plastic particles that are everywhere and last forever, there’s bound to be some misinformation. And here it is. Claims about the volume of microplastics we all consume are overblown, this scientist explains, yet based on some actual science that was poorly communicated to the public. Sigh.
One estimate says we may eat a credit card’s worth of microplastics each week. That sounds crazy. So crazy that it’s almost unbelievable. In fact, it is unbelievable. For most of us, it’s totally wrong.
—Sam Westreich, PhD
How Midlife Became a Crisis
Back in the day, as in the days of Homer and Odysseus, men (it was always men) didn’t view midlife as a time of career doldrums and inevitable physical and mental decline. Rather, it’s when experience and vigor combined to allow for great accomplishments. So what’s changed? I love how this writer frames the modern, rather made-up crisis of midlife against historical accounts (women included).
While the actual term “midlife crisis” was not born until 1965, thanks to 48-year-old Canadian psychoanalyst Elliot Jacques, its gestation stretched across the 18th and 19th centuries. Romantic poets such as John Keats and Percy Shelley, who died at 25 and 29, respectively, taught readers to covet the summer of life with almost desperate intensity, and even a slight chill in the air became cause for dread.
—Matthew Redmond
I hope we’ve helped make your tomorrow a little better than today.
Cheers,
Rob