How to live longer – be active not passive
Health – and longevity – is unevenly distributed across socioeconomic status. Persons of lower income, education, or occupational status experience worse health, and die earlier than do their better-off counterparts. These disparities can be lessened by being active not passive in terms of decisions about your health, and the medical care you seek.
Why is this there this disparity?
Some of it is chance, e.g. the genes you are born with, the parents you have. But a lot of it is that more educated people are active in health decision making. They do not ‘trust the system’. They chase things that don’t happen. This may be because in their work (and social) life, they are leaders that take responsibility for the teams performance; so have to be aware of pitfalls in the system, to navigate the team around. They also often have a good network including senior health professionals.
Preventing disease
Broadly speaking there are two ways of preventing disease, and living longer: screening and non-screening. Though it is true that many diseases are affected by genetic/racial factors (and luck), beyond your control.
Nonetheless, you (with the help of the NHS) can help with both screening and non-screening methods. Both are partially under your control. And you can chase the system, if things are not happening. Health, and preventative medicine, need to be actively sought. This includes lifestyle choices you can make as well.
In the linked article, we will explain how to live longer – by making active not passive decisions. And we will go through ten top tips which are examples of how to do that.
