Don’t Consult Your Doctor.

Most health resources end with a clear disclaimer: Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions… 

The data leads to the opposite conclusion: When it comes to preventing chronic disease – which make up 8 of the 10 top killers of Americans – you should decidedly not consult the medical system. 

But hasn’t our system produced medical miracles over the past 100 years? Hasn’t life expectancy almost doubled during that time? Medicine is complicated – why should we question a system that has worked so well?

Life expectancy has increased largely due to sanitation and infectious disease measures, emergency surgery techniques for acute/life-threatening conditions like an inflamed appendix and complicated childbirth, antibiotics to prevent life-threatening infections, and vaccines to protect against deadly diseases. In short, almost every “health miracle” we can point to is a cure for an acute issue (i.e., a problem that would kill you imminently if left unresolved). Economically, acute conditions aren’t great because the patient is quickly cured and no longer pays.

Starting in the 1960s, the medical system has taken the trust engendered by these acute innovations and used it to ask patients to not question its authority on chronic diseases (which can last a lifetime and thus are more profitable). This medicalization of chronic diseases over the past 50 years has been an abject failure. Since that time:

• Diabetes has gone up 700% now. Half of U.S. adults are pre-diabetic or diabetic
• Male sperm count has declined more than 50%
• Up to one-fourth of women experience PCOS
• Suicide has become the second leading cause of death for young adults, and 25% of adults are now prescribed a mental health medication. 
• Child mortality is rising, chronic diseases are exploding, life expectancy is declining for the most sustained period since 1860, and healthcare costs are outpacing inflation by 200%. 

Amazingly, almost every chronic “cure” since 1960 led to more of the disease: 

• Ambien has led to more sleep disorders
• Statins have led to more heart disease. 
• Metformin has led to more diabetes.
• SSRIs have led to more depression. 
• Adderall has led to more ADHD and fatigue. 
• Opioids have led to more pain. 
• Xanax has led to more anxiety. 
• Vasoconstrictor drugs have led to more allergies. 
• We spend $250 billion per year on cancer treatment, but cancer rates haven’t budged.

You have the definition of a dysfunctional system when the rates of chronic disease and medical spending have risen proportionately over a 50-year period.

Nothing is getting fixed because chronic conditions aren’t siloed problems – they are all connected (a topic we’ll explore in further emails). The fact that we have been led to think each condition can be cured with a pill has created a moral hazard – because patients think they’re taking constructive action when the underlying dynamics causing them to be sick haven’t been touched. 

The American patient has become systematically disempowered at the exact time we have become sicker, overweight, depressed, and infertile. In the face of these trends, we have been gaslighted to think it is illegitimate for us to ask medical questions. The idea of personal healthcare empowerment has been ridiculed. Nutritional or holistic remedies are dismissed as “not serious” science, and podcast hosts who ask simple questions about the incentives of our system are aggressively belittled by the healthcare industry and politicians they pay. When it comes to our health, we are in a state of fear and confusion – not the optimal scenario for thriving. 

The truth is that we should absolutely listen to the medical system if we have an acute issue like an infection or broken bone. But when it comes to the chronic conditions that plague our lives, we need a bottoms-up revolution. We have more access to our underlying health data than ever before, and the only way we can turn this around is to listen less to the system and more to ourselves. 

The question is, what should we do now? 

Over the past two years, I’ve talked to hundreds of leaders, organizations, and companies at the forefront of re-thinking healthcare. The upcoming emails will outline the 25 foundational habits from this work that should be the basis of how we think about our personal health and policy. .

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