Helping yourself -

to a healthier lifestyle Our American lifestyle has been proven dangerous to our health. The American way of life has turned out to be the American way of death.

The steak dinner we enjoy today may be tomorrow’s heart attack. The Marlboro man may become a lung cancer statistic. The lively cocktail party ends on skid row. Our cars and super highways get us there faster, but our haste may shorten our lives. Our interest in sports often ends in front of the TV set.

Today’s leading causes of death are car- diovascular disease, cancer, and trauma, all closely related to the way we have chosen to live.

To dramatize the difference lifestyle makes in health, Victor R Fuchs, in Who Shall Live? compared the states of Utah and Nevada.’ Although the states are comparable in levels of income and medical care, the inhabitants of Utah are the healthiest in the United States, whereas their neighbors in Nevada are the least healthy. Fuchs attributes the difference to their lifestyles.

The Mormons, who are the principal in- habitants of Utah, do not use tobacco or alcohol and generally lead stable, quiet lives. In Nevada, there is a high rate of cigarette and alcohol consumption combined with high indexes of marital and geographical instabil-

Bd Editorial

ity. In Nevada, males between 30 and 39 years of age have an excess of death rate of 590% from cirrhosis of the liver and malig- nant neoplasms compared to their counter- parts living in Utah.

“The greatest current potential,” Fuchs states, “for improving the health of the American people is to be found in what they do and can’t do for themselves. Individual decisions about diet, exercise, and smoking are of critical importance, and collective de- cisions affecting pollution and other aspects of the environment are also relevant.”

But as Rene‘ Dubos points out, “To ward off disease or recover health, men as a rule find it easier to depend on the healers than to attempt the more difficult task of living

In living wisely, nurses have double bur- dens. They have a responsibility in teaching patients to lead a healthy life, and they are looked to as health role models. Friends, neighbors, and patients expect nurses, as well as physicians, to be paragons of good health practices.

How well do nurses take care of them- selves? Quite well, according to a study by Nancy Pantaleo, RN, who describes her find- ings in an article in this issue.

Her article, “Nurse, do you take care of yourself?” is a good starting point for a spe- cial series that will run in the Journal during 1977. Entitled, “Help yourself to a healthier life,” the series starts in this issue with a look at stress. What does the OR nurse perceive as stressful on the job? Is it the angry doctor or participating in a new procedure? Marylou

AORN Journal, January 1977, Val 25, No 1 13

Olsen has studied how experience, position, and education affect the OR nurse’s percep- tion of stress. Hans Selye, well-known for his work on stress, writes about his code for coping with stress, and Margaret Armstrong, RN, suggests some ways that altered states of awareness can be used to live with stress.

Other articles in the series will include what you can do to avoid cancer, exercises designed especially for OR nurses, and help- ing your heart to health. Others will deal with specific contemporary hazards of smoking, alcohol, and diet.

The aim of the series is twofold-to help you lead a healthier life and assist you in helping patients toward a healthier life.

Of course, educating people about good health styles isn’t that easy. Witness the sur- geon general’s warning on cigarette pack- ages and cigarette advertising. Dangerous to your health or not, cigarette consumption is up. Despite lower proportion of smokers, those who smoke are lighting up an average of two more cigarettes a day.

One physician has proposed “your fault” insurance to reward individual choices of lifestyle. Keith Reemtsma, MD, chairman of the department of surgery, Columbia Univer- sity College of Physicians and Surgeons, suggests that those who choose good health habits be rewarded with lower taxes, while persons who choose to drink, smoke, drive cars, and own guns be taxed to cover the medical consequences of these choices. Taxes for medical care would be added on to tobacco products, alcohol, automobiles, gasoline, and firearms.

Prevention has been called American medicine’s best hope for stemming the cur- rent “disease care cost explosion.” These are the words of Ernst L Wynder, MD, presi- dent and medical director of the American Health F~undation.~ He points out that we spend 8.3% of the gross national product for disease care, but almost nothing for health care or prevention.

He blames the apathy of the medical pro- fession as well as that of the general public. Since the medical profession finds preven- tion economically unrewarding (third party payers don’t pay), he suggests that nurses and allied health people may be able to do the job better.

Is it possible to change the American life- style? If so, how could it be done? We would like to hear some of your suggestions.

A group of public health professionals have been meeting to discuss “choosing liv- ing and dying practices.” When asked how they could choose health living styles, they came up with such answers as-Develop philosophy and values for living. Accept re- sponsibility for own personal health. Spend time with self to meditate, reflect, learn, and be in tune with oneself.‘

Perhaps these statements will start you thinking. When you make your New Year’s resolutions, you might want to make one for yourself-to make your lifestyle a healthy one.

To your health. Elinor S Schrader

Editor Notes

Basic Books, Inc, 1974) 52-55.

York: Harper, 1959) 110.

can Medical News (Oct 11, 1976) 1, 8-9.

Health (July 1976) 3.

1. Victor R Fuchs, Who Shall Live? (New York:

2. R e d Dubos, The Mirage of Health (New

3. “MDs called lax in prevention care,” Ameri-

4. “Project discusses life styles,” The Nations

New pacemaker charged every four years A new pacemaker needing recharging once every four years will have a potential life of over 50 years according to G Frank 0 Tyers, MD, department of surgery, The Milton S Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pa. Results of accelerated clinical tests were presented at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in Chicago.

Current rechargeable units use nickel-cadmium cells, which have lower power capacity, Dr Tyers explained. The new pacemaker will be powered with a high capacity silver-mecuric oxide-zinc cell requiring 60 to 80 hours recharging every four years. Studies indicated that overcharging new cells for up to 70 hours did not have a detrimental effect and actually increased the capacity of the pacemaker.

14 AORN Journal, January 1977, Vol25, No I