 Allergies [27]
Allergy is a disorder of the immune system often also referred to as atopy.
Antidepressants [29]
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia.
Arthritis [12]
Arthritis is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body.
Cancer [26]
Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth
Cardio & Blood [1]
Risk factors for heart disease: infections
Cholesterol [2]
A fat-like substance called a lipid. It is used to build cell membranes, hormones and bile acids
Diabetes [23]
The inability of the body to produce, or the inability to metabolize, the human hormone insulin; Diabetes insipidus, usually a disorder of the ...
Epilepsy [6]
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures
Gastrointestinal [2]
The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food...
General Health [144]
The infant, child or young person?s current health condition
Herbal [18]
Herbal tea, herbal medicine
Hormonal [21]
Hormones - Proteins produced by organs of the body that trigger activity in other locations.
Men's Health [1]
For men on fitness, health, sex, caree
Pain relief [16]
Pain management is the medical discipline concerned with the relief of pain.
Skin care [15]
The skin is the outer covering of the body
Weight Loss [21]
Loss of body weight by dieting or due to various easting disorders or medical conditions.
Women's Health [20]
Find information on women's health issues, and lifestyle at the Women's Health
Awaiting moderation 17810 Article
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Preventive medecine: lifestyle changes PREVENTIVE MEDECINE: LIFESTYLE CHANGES
These include things such as stopping smoking, wearing seat-belts reducing alcohol consumption and so on. They are often extremely cheap to implement. A cost-benefit analysis on smoking and alcohol produces dramatic results. The cost of alcohol abuse and smoking accounts for one fifth of all health expenditure. When indirect costs are added the cost of smoking and alcohol abuse accounts for one quart of all the economic costs of illness. These figures would increase even more if the costs of fire losses, ca accidents and crime due to smoking and alcohol were added.
According to Dr John H. Knowles, President of the Rockefeller Foundation:
Over 99 per cent of us are born healthy am suffer premature death and disability only ? result of personal misbehaviour and environmental conditions. . . . the individual has the ??? indeed the moral responsibility to maintain own health by observance of simple prudent rules of behaviour. . . life is meant to be enjoyed . . . but the cost of individual responsibility health care now becomes prohibitive. The choice is individual responsibility or social failure. Responsibility and duty must gain some degree of parity with right and freedom.
So much for the costs of alcohol and smoking. The benefits are harder to quantify. The benefit could be the amount people are prepared to pay to indulge in these activities but this is probably an underestimate because presumably people prevented from smoking and drinking would need to do other things to answer the need; they have in the first place. Perhaps the cost of the drug bill would rise proportionately. A prevention plan to reduce smoking and alcohol use would, of course, cost money and there would be transitional costs as the two industries lost profits and put people out of work. Governments could, of course, compensate these industries temporarily in the interests of the nation's health.
Even allowing for all these costs economists still think the financial advantages could be considerable. To see just how cost-effective a reduction in tobacco and alcohol use would be one need look no further than the Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists in the US who live without these drugs and have provably lower death rates and longer lives. Their healthy eating habits also give them a cancer mortality of between 50 and 65 per cent that of other Americans.
*38/72/5*
GENERAL HEALTH
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