HEALTH NEWS

2020 Health Stories: Year in Review

By Dr. Linda J. Dobberstein, DC, Board Certified in Clinical Nutrition

December 28, 2020

2020 will go undoubtedly go down as a year for the record books far into the future. At the top of everyone’s list for most notable events will be the global pandemic and COVID-19 that has turned lives and normalcy as we knew it upside down. The pandemic dynamics and concerns extend not only into health and potentially serious life-threatening illness, but also job status, church, family, social, and sports activities, freedom of movement and the bewildering toilet paper shortage.

The most common concern that I encountered in talking with thousands of individuals over this past year was fear, anxiety and stress with concerns for immune health. Frustration, depression, and worry were just as common. In an age where we are bombarded daily with statistics, signs everywhere of masks and 6-foot social distance required, it is no wonder that these emotions run rampant.

I commonly heard “We are in a time like no other in history.” Yes, that is true. We have a global pandemic amidst numerous other challenges to heights that may not have been seen before. But humans have resiliently pressed on and have survived plagues, natural disasters, riots and wars across the millennia.

Benjamin Franklin said that the only things that are certain are death and taxes. I would add that change is also certain and with it comes choices. Everyone is faced with choices and encounters change and the pandemic has brought its share of choices.

The choices you make with thoughts, behaviors and actions influences and directs your path despite circumstances. With health, every one of us can make positive choices and teach others to do the same. You can learn to make quality choices in your day to day lives. You can press on and be proactive about your health. You can do this as an individual and we as a nation must collectively work at improving our health status.

Despite spending unfathomable amounts of money on health care/disease care, our country continues to lag behind other countries on the list of healthiest countries. Bloomberg’s Global Health Index for 2020 ranks the United States at #35. The primary reason for this low rank is obesity. Other factors like sedentary lifestyle, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and hypertension contribute to poor health with obesity. These factors have absolutely contributed to the risk, severity, and loss of life from COVID-19.

Generations before us did not have the same plethora of food choices with giant supermarkets along with fast food, junk foods, genetically modified, antibiotic, pesticide/herbicide treated foods that traveled hundreds or thousands of miles to reach the dinner table. The U.S. population generally does not suffer from lack of calories and food like third world countries. Rather there is abundance of calorie-rich nutrient-poor foods in the American diet that fail to truly nourish.

In this time of quick choices, we must go back to the basics and fundamentals with healthy foods and choices. You can choose to raise a tabletop or backyard garden. You can choose to not walk down the junk food aisle. You can choose whole, real foods. You can choose. Make this your New Year’s resolution.

Likewise, we live in a time when xenobiotics and xenoestrogens are ubiquitous with millions of exposures in the course of a lifetime. Plastics and microplastics, petroleum chemicals, pesticides, etc. surround us. These contribute to the total body burden, substantially affecting metabolism and immune health. Choose to reduce or avoid use of plastics and other chemicals as much as you can.

Physical activity and exercise help relieve stress and support immune health and gut flora. You can choose to engage in physical activity. It may be simple isometrics to start with such as squeezing your glute/butt muscles when you sit at a stoplight or are working or playing games on the computer.

Or it may be more intense exercise with a 20-mile hike or 100-mile bike ride. Climb the stairs instead of the elevator. Rake the lawn or sweep the driveway rather than using a power blower. Start with something, set goals and keep doing it. Think about how you help change the health trend of this country. It starts with you making daily choices.

The social distance and shutdown with self-isolation will continue into 2021. As I wrote in the September article Social Isolation and Stress Management, the hidden negative effects challenge health and may even be more oppressive to the society as a whole compared to other concerns.

Drug overdose, depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns, abusive behaviors along with delays in other types of care have been adversely affected with the pandemic. Reach out in whatever way you can to connect and help others by phone, text, email, or even a hug from a distance. Choose to connect with someone. It makes a difference.

As 2021 approaches, I and the team at Wellness Resources will continue to help and provide educational resources and nutraceutical quality nutritional supplements to help you be proactive about your health so you can make informed choices. Schools and medical systems are not often equipped at all to educate individuals about nutrition and how it impacts the structure and function of the human body.

Our online library provides an enormous amount of information about how you can take charge of your health. I hope you continue to learn and benefit from this information to make healthy choices in this time of certain uncertainty. Please share this information with others! It can help change lives.

Here is a list of 2020’s articles. I wish you a blessed Christmas season and a healthy 2021!