3 Common Health Myths Your Doctor May Not Be Telling You
It's no secret that sometimes healthcare seems like a mystery when you're the patient. I've heard time and again, "Why didn't anyone tell me this before?" Or, "They told me everything is fine, but I know something is wrong!" In fact, I've even had some of those experiences myself as a patient. Sadly, though it's often unintentional, there is sometimes a gap between conventional healthcare and root cause solutions.
Conventional healthcare often focuses on managing symptoms with medications and standardized protocols, while root cause approaches take time to investigate the unique underlying factors driving illness—a difference that stems from our system's emphasis on quick fixes over the personalized detective work needed to achieve lasting wellness. This fundamental difference in approach has given rise to several persistent myths that may be keeping you from achieving your best health.
Let's explore three common misconceptions that even well-meaning healthcare providers might not be addressing with you.
Myth #1: "Genetics determine your health destiny"
Just because "it runs in the family" doesn't mean that it can't stop with you. Let's say you come from a family prone to diabetes on both sides. You may think, "well it's my lot in life, so I'd better just accept it." Or maybe the same is true of heart attacks, or obesity, or a number of other chronic diseases. Did you know that it's actually lifestyle that is a main driver for disease? While genetics can account for anywhere between 10-30% of risk of disease, the other 70-90% is actually what we do to our bodies each day! This goes for not only diabetes and heart disease, but also stroke, many cancers, autoimmune disease, and many others! That is PROFOUND! This means that, even though you can't change your family or your genetics, you CAN change the way you live, and this can make a huge impact on your risk for developing or dying from disease. This is actually very encouraging.
We call this "epigenetics." This is how our environment and behavior can actually change the way our genes are expressed. For example, if you have a gene that makes you at increased risk of a certain disease, but yet you develop a healthy lifestyle, that gene may never truly be expressed, and you may never end up with the disease. In other words, while our genetic code itself doesn't change, our lifestyle and environment influence which genes are activated or silenced.
This means that making changes to your day-to-day habits can actually change your risk of developing a chronic disease, and therefore even extend your life! More on this below.
Myth #2: "You always need medication to control high blood pressure"
Have you ever been to the doctor and been diagnosed with a condition, and been prescribed a medication in the same visit? Now I'm not saying that this is always a bad thing. In fact, sometimes it is absolutely needed to prevent severe consequences of serious conditions. For example, if you have uncontrolled diabetes with dangerously high blood sugars, you need insulin right away. Or if you have a blood pressure reading high enough that you are at risk for a stroke, then you should be on medications to get it down to a safe level. However, for milder cases, or even for the long term, did you know that many conditions can be managed (and even reversed) with lifestyle change?
For example, adopting the DASH diet (a diet high in plant foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and lower in salt, sugar, red meat and alcohol), was found to be able to reduce systolic blood pressure by over 10 points in those with high blood pressure! (Appel et al., 1997). Also, lowering body weight by just 5-10% can also lower blood pressure by up to 20 points (Neter et al., 2003). That can be a more profound effect than even medications! In other words, healthy eating and weight loss can work just as well, if not better than, traditional blood pressure medications, and there are many other studies showing how well other lifestyle treatments work, too. The great part? You can add them all together (diet, exercise, weight loss, better sleep, etc) without any serious side effects!
Psst…wait till you hear about diabetes and lifestyle change! More to come, but…exciting stuff!
(Always consult your provider before stopping or changing any medications; we recommend being under the care of a medical provider when being treated for any chronic conditions through traditional or lifestyle methods).
Myth #3: "Small changes don't make a meaningful difference in health"
According to James Clear (2018) "The effects of small habits compound over time. For example, if you can get just 1 percent better each day, you'll end up with results that are nearly 37 times better after a year."
37 times! That can mean significant improvement in whatever it is you are trying to change.
One example of how small habits can make big changes is the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine by Saint-Maurice et al. (2020), which said that adding in just 2,000 steps per day (that's only about a mile), could reduce mortality by 12% over 10 years. That is actually a big deal! And adding more steps per day actually had even better results.
So, don't think that starting now, and starting small won't be worth it in the end!
Conclusion
So there you have it—three myths that might be holding you back from your best health. The truth is, your genes aren't your destiny, may times lifestyle changes can improve/reverse disease (even better than medications), and small changes really do add up!
The most exciting part? You don't need to overhaul your entire life tomorrow. Start with just one small change this week. Maybe it's a 10-minute walk after dinner, adding an extra vegetable to your plate, or asking a different question at your next doctor's appointment.
If you're curious about how lifestyle medicine might help with your specific health concerns, I'd love to talk. Our approach looks different because we take the time to investigate what's really happening in your unique body—not just manage symptoms.
What small change will you try this week? Your future self will thank you for starting today, no matter how small that first step might be.
References
Appel, L. J., Moore, T. J., Obarzanek, E., Vollmer, W. M., Svetkey, L. P., Sacks, F. M., Bray, G. A., Vogt, T. M., Cutler, J. A., Windhauser, M. M., Lin, P. H., & Karanja, N. (1997). A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure. New England Journal of Medicine, 336(16), 1117-1124. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199704173361601
Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Avery.
Neter, J. E., Stam, B. E., Kok, F. J., Grobbee, D. E., & Geleijnse, J. M. (2003). Influence of weight reduction on blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Hypertension, 42(5), 878-884. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.HYP.0000094221.86888.AE
Saint-Maurice, P. F., Troiano, R. P., Bassett, D. R., Jr, Graubard, B. I., Carlson, S. A., Shiroma, E. J., Fulton, J. E., & Matthews, C. E. (2020). Association of Daily Step Count and Step Intensity With Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA, 323(12), 1151–1160. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.1382