Preventative Medicine for Beginners

Our health always depends on our genes, but to different degrees. In order to understand it better, we can compare our health to the take-off or landing of an airplane in an airport. If it leaves or arrives on time, then we can say we’re healthy. Genes could be compared to the type of airplane. Therefore, up to what point does the airplane influence the success of the flight? Evidently, the airplane is essential. Other circumstances also come into play, like the pilot, the atmospheric conditions or the landing runway can be limited under different circumstances. It’s interesting for us to know that when we know our genes (the airplane), we are able to adapt our health (flight) to any circumstances. Genetic and preventative medicine consists of having an in depth understanding of genes (the type of airplane) in order to recommend a healthy lifestyle that fits according to the genetic background of each individual. There are illnesses that are called monogenic, where the genetic background is easy to identify and work around, whilst there are others, known as polygenic that influence many factors. That is why genes are more important in some illnesses than others.

Lifestyle choices can be compared to the pilot of the airplane, meaning that it can have a greater impact than genes themselves.

Nutrition, exercise and stress. These three pivot our genes.

It’s not about opposing aging, rather improving quality of life. Every car has a programmed obsolescence and requires regular check-ups and reparations. With Healthy Aging Medicine, the aim isn’t to make a car’s life endless. Instead, the objective is to ensure that the car doesn’t breakdown (illness) for as long as possible.

With this approach you can prevent almost any illness.

At SHA, prevention is already our present.

The latest studies suggest that we don’t need to make a huge change in our lifestyle to improve our health. We don’t even need to change everything at once. It’s interesting to see that small changes (for example, going up the stairs instead of taking the lift) can be very beneficial to our health, in fact, much more than we realise. If you’re a smoker, ideally, we would recommend you stop smoking, but if you find this difficult, even smoking less cigarettes a day can also have a great impact. Even losing a few kilos and maintaining a healthy weight can also be very beneficial if you’re a little overweight. Without a doubt, health is like a cycling tour. We shouldn’t only value being a finalist, but also all the stages and challenges we are able to accomplish along the way. It’s not essential that we win it all.