I’m not a big Martha Stewart fan. Nothing against her, I just never gravitated to her magazine or TV show and I’m not much for celebrity musings on Instagram. But in a recent interview she said something well worth passing along. No, her great advice isn’t to get a tattoo, though if that’s your thing, go for it.
Here’s what Martha Stewart said, as reported by the website Well + Good:
“If there's a problem, you have to take care of it. People who ignore problems die.”
Sounds simple, right? But many of us ignore this obvious wellness suggestion all the time. During stretches of the pandemic, a lot of important health checkups were missed because hospitals shut out all but the most urgent cases, and many people were understandably afraid to go to the doctor or anywhere where they might catch Covid. As I wrote then, researchers determined…
As a result, scientists have estimated tens of thousands of preventable premature deaths will occur in coming years among people who didn’t get diagnosed with various cancers and other diseases early on when they were most treatable.
If you’ve been avoiding routine checkups, or if you have some nagging health issue, take Martha’s advice and get thee to a physician. It’s good advice no matter how old you are. Here are 5 health appointments and checkups that should not be delayed for people who are in the risk categories they relate to, according to experts I spoke with:
Blood pressure check
Routine wellness exam
Colorectal cancer screening
Breast cancer screening
Cervical cancer screening
TOTALLY UNRELATED
I’ve been busy researching and writing over on Medium. Here are three recent stories that might interest you:
The Bitter Truth of Sugar Substitutes
Artificial sweeteners seemed so innocuous, but recent research raises important health questions
Six Strange & Scary Sleep Sabotagers
These nightmarish ‘parasomnias’ range from odd to downright dangerous
Signs Your Boss is Toxic and What You Can Do
How to spot abusive leaders, why they’re rarely fired, and strategies to cope or force change
JUST FYI
The capsaicinoids in hot peppers that create the burning sensation are concentrated mostly in the pepper’s white lining. I did not know that. These capsaicinoids latch on to heat-sensing chemicals in your mouth. And then: “ These neurotransmitters trigger a false alarm that your mouth is on fire. It’s a bodily response that can produce sweating and watery eyes but does not cause physical harm,” according to a really informative article from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which among other duties is involved in ensuring accurate measurement of everything from alcohol percentage and cholesterol to time and tape measures.
BIT OF WISDOM
“You can’t make radical changes in the pattern of your life until you begin to see yourself exactly as you are now.”
— Bhante Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English
Until next week, wishing you health and happiness.
—Rob
Thank you for your support. If you find this newsletter useful, go ahead and forward it to someone who might benefit. You can find more of my health and wellness writing on Medium. Also find me on YouTube, Instagram, Mastodon, Twitter, Linkedin. And if you want to live a long, healthy, happy life, check out my book, Make Sleep Your Superpower.
Very relevant advice. My husband put off skin checks for a while in Covid. When he did get checked he had a skin cancer on his temple that took 3 goes by the surgeon to remove it all. All our health checks are now back on track!