Health and the City

Playing Dr. House...

New York has a gym on almost every corner, and it's hard to walk a block without passing a jogger heading to Central Park. So - this may come as a shock for the people who know me - I decided that New York was the best place and time to start doing some sports...

I didn't want to enroll with a gym. You always end up with one of those expensive one-year subscriptions and I figured that it's better not to invest too much in something I probably will not keep up for a whole year... ("Gnotis se auton" or "Know thyself") Instead, I opted for jogging at Central Park: nice surrounding, close-by (only three blocks from our apartment), and best of all - it's free! So I started to run... and now every muscle in my body is aching. But I'm not giving up yet - my goal is to run more than 30 minutes without reanimation. Healthy lifestyle (*), here I come!

(*) For the record, this does not mean that I will no longer eat burgers, fries, chips, or any similar food types.

Speaking of health... in the US, health is big business. In one of the rare moments we watch TV commercials (see the post below), there will always be one discussing the new miracle product which is the cure for all your health problems. Of course, in Belgium, you have the yoghurts with "active bifidus", food "enriched with vitamins X, Y and Z" or other hocus pocus, which in the end only helps you go to the toilet better. But here in the US, they go one step further. Drug commercials in the US are an interesting phenomenon: about one minute is used to praise the drug's effectiveness and in the other two minutes somebody reads out loud the leaflet (you know, the white paper inside a medicine box which you throw away before even folding it open?) with every possible side effect of the drug concerned. Just some examples of commercials:

Birth-control pill
Anti-cholesterol pill
Medication against "restless legs" (?)

I have no clue how a drug company justifies the cost of a TV commercial as these ads cannot possibly make people want to buy these drugs? But if you still decide that this is the medicine for you, the threshold is very low: there is a drugstore (a glorified supermarket) on almost every corner. Over the counter drugs can even be found in a separate aisle in the supermarket and are put on display like candy - just grab your pain killers, together with some frozen pizza, beer and chips (never mind that that's why you need the pain killers in the first place).

So, if medicine is big business, you would think that doctor practices are blooming? I actually don't have a clue - but what made me suspect otherwise was (of course) another commercial I once saw about "www.webmd.com", a virtual doctor. The concept? Just type in your symptoms and the computer will tell you which medical condition, disease or disorder you have, it even tells you what the treatment is. I can already hear the doctors among us sighing... But doctors do not fear: somewhere albeit in very small print and somewhat hidden beneath the sponsor's messages, there is the following warning: "This tool does not provide medical advice. It is intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never ignore professional medical advice in seeking treatment because of something you have read on the WebMD Site. If you think you may have a medical emergency, immediately call your doctor or dial 911." Hmm, I've heard that before... could it be that a lawyer wrote that?

Pfff, gotta run to the supermarket now... that website gave me a headache!