Microstory 316: Disease Prevention

This is an experimental Stepwisdom microstory. The introduction can be found in Microstory 300. More to follow.

Disease Prevention is one of the hardest things to accomplish. The work is never finished, and not everyone has access to the same resources. The impoverished population often has ways of finding shelter, water, and even food. They can make clothes out of something, and can carve out some time for sleep. But cleanliness and preventive healthcare are two things that cannot be achieved if the wrong environmental factors are at play. Healthcare professionals have outlined five levels of disease prevention, each subsequent level being more difficult to attain than the last. The first step in creating a population, not entirely free from disease, but protected against preventable medical conditions, is education. People must be aware of the risks they face when engaging in certain activities. They need to know that bacteria can thrive under unsanitary conditions. They need to know how to recognize the signs and symptoms of diabetes, heart disease, and sexually transmitted diseases. They need to know the dangers of alcohol consumption, why smoking is unhealthy, and why exercise is important. This all may see obvious to you, but you probably grew up in a developed nation, and were exposed to a degree of education. But just being aware of the risks of certain lifestyle choices, and knowing what diseases you could contract, is not enough. There is so much conflicting information out there that it’s either hard to trust anyone, or it’s easy to choose whatever lines up with your preconceived notions. One thing to remember is that literally everything causes cancer, so unconditionally cutting out anything you read about that in an article isn’t practical. Preventing disease comes from exercising regularly (steadily, not necessarily intensely); eating natural foods (but not shying away from anything that tastes good: that doesn’t mean it’s bad); and seeking medical check-ups, as feasible. Completely avoid recreational drugs, relieve stress as possible and legal, and--above all--find balance.