Jewish Journal: Top 10 List of Ways to Stay Healthy in 2023
The Jewish Journal recently featured a column by internist Daniel Stone, MD, regional medical director of Cedars-Sinai Valley Network, focusing on 10 ways to optimize health in the new year.
“I occasionally give health talks,” Stone wrote in his commentary. “I offer a reminder that the purpose of life is not to stay healthy. Health remains a means to an end, empowering us to fulfill life’s purposes. We should attend to the basics and move on.”
Among the basics, Stone wrote, are eating a balanced diet, staying physically active, avoiding cigarette smoking and substance abuse, and waking up with a purpose.
“The top 10 list is about the power of habits,” Stone wrote. “Over time good habits can create a positive personal health trajectory without excessive time expenditure. In contrast, bad habits damage health insidiously.”
Stone wrote that while good habits are more likely to lead to longer, more productive lives, that’s not always the case.
“So, the pursuit of happiness justifies some hedging,” he wrote. “Overall, when betting with one’s life, like personal investing and other matters of chance, it’s sensible to focus mainly on the big picture issues.”
Stone’s list also includes staying on top of regular medical and dental evaluations and preventive care, including vaccinations to protect against COVID-19 and the flu.
“Once you’re fully vaccinated and caught up with the top 10, what about life’s purpose?” he wrote. “Try to help someone else. Pick a project. Just stick to the top 10, then go chase some rainbows.”
Click here to read the complete column in the Jewish Journal.