I like to tell my patients that good health, at its root, comes from just three things: good movement, good food, and good sleep. At least these are the three they can control. Good luck and good genes are beyond our control.
On our Easter: The world looks and feels like a different place after a good night sleep. (Now there’s a revelation.) Good sleep mixed with the bright sun, low humidity and cooling winds made everything feel better. The muscles twitched faster, the mind thought more clearly and even the soul felt friendlier. It’s no wonder that good sleepers live longer. (I’m going to keep working on that one.)
Even on an Easter Sunday, where the sun amplified the tranquility of the blooming Kentucky flowers, people in cars are still get angry with people on bikes. But you see, on this glorious Easter, we were easily able to deflect the motorist’s rant with, “Happy Easter†to you—and ride on. …Is it any wonder there is so much more atrial fib out there; I could not help thinking to myself.
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On the writing front, I spent some more time working on one of the most promising ideas in Medicine. I love Choosing Wisely because it is for doctors and by doctors. It emphasizes the use of nuance and clinical judgment and in so doing embraces cost-effective care. Each list of five misused interventions shines a bright light on wasteful, nonsensical stuff that happens—in the name of thoroughness–to patients every day.
Naysayers immediately highlight the huge headwinds faced by Choosing Wisely: our current system of compensation rewards doing more while our legal climate penalizes our humanness.
I counter. Fathers and coaches alike often say nothing worth doing comes that easy. That’s clearly the case in reforming our system of healthcare.
So what was I working on?
I thought it reasonable to look inward at my field of Heart Rhythm medicine and identify the five most misused or overused interventions in EP. –Choosing Wisely: The Electrophysiology List of Five Don’ts
Stay tuned.
Now it’s back to work.
JMM
One reply on “Good sleep and good choices”
and for me nice hot ” made at home lattes ” one in the morn. and one in the mid afternoon, loved ones that make sure that we don’t run out of meds. and that we take them.