Jennifer Peterson is a doctor who, not surprisingly, highly values her occupation. She's seen the best it can do and has been moved by the lives she has touched through her job. But she also has a nagging frustration over the people she worries neither she nor any other physician will be able to help.

Her concern is based not on the limits of medical science but on the limits of communication. "In a national survey, fewer than one in five men said they would seek medical care if they were sick or in pain," Dr. Peterson said with alarm. "At the same time, nine out of ten said their doctor was excellent. Imagine that for a moment. There is nearly unanimous agreement that their doctor was excellent -- and that their doctor was to be avoided if at all possible." At the same time, Dr. Peterson says, surveys of doctors reveal widespread concern that too many patients live in fear of medical treatment and fail to realize the many steps they can take to improve their health both in the short term and over the course of their lives.

Dr. Peterson is all too familiar with studies that describe people who have suffered with conditions for years. One day a traffic accident or some unforeseen circumstance brings them into emergency contact with a physician. The patients, almost against their will, find themselves receiving treatment they could have had years earlier for their preexisting condition. Often, their delay has tragic repercussions.

If there is one thing Dr. Peterson would like to say, not only to her patients but to everyone, it is that you should no more fear or ignore your health than you would fear or ignore any other basic need. "Ignoring your health, whether it means your daily habits or a medical condition you have, does not make any sense and will not help you today, tomorrow, or down the road. When you are hungry you eat, but before you are hungry you plan how to get food. It should be the same with your health. When you are sick you see a doctor, but before you are sick you should plan on how to be well."

Dr. Peterson sees a clear role for both medicine and medical information in people's lives. "Doctors can help you when you are sick, and of course you should visit us then. But health information can help you throughout the rest of your life. You can make a change. You can do things sensibly, approach things rationally, use a strategy, and create the best outcome possible for yourself."

No book can take the place of a doctor, of course. "Consult a doctor about your condition or about important health changes in your life or about your looming fears. But read up on medical research to help you in your daily activities. You can avoid common practices that harm us and embrace common practices that sustain us." A book about health issues, Dr. Peterson says, "just needs to give people basic information they can use, because many will. And people will be healthier. Lives will be lengthened and strengthened."

Dr. Peterson's concerns and advice guided me as I conducted the research for this book, combing through studies on habits, practices, and attitudes that affect our health. Each entry in The 100 Simple Secrets of Healthy People presents the conclusions of doctors and scientists. Each entry presents the core scientific finding, an example of the principle, and the basic advice health professionals recommend. It is intended as a tool for you to help examine your habits and attitudes with an eye toward being able to be a positive force for health in your own life.

When a house is built, all the steps of the process have to be considered before construction starts. Otherwise, you could wind up installing the doors and then finding out the refrigerator won't fit through them. Similarly, your health plans have to be considered together as a whole instead of one piece at a time. Your chances of sticking to a health improvement plan -- eating right, exercising regularly, or quitting smoking -- are higher if you focus on your overall health rather than just the task at hand. In other words, think about the things that you could do to improve your health and how they fit together, and each act will reinforce everything else you are trying to do.

Six years ago, Lee was hobbling around with a cane. Now the seventy-two-year-old Chicago area man pumps iron for more than two hours a day several times a week. "I call it a lifestyle change," he says.

"There was a time when I wasn't in very good shape. I was about fifty pounds too heavy, had swelling in my knees, and was loaded with arthritis," he says. But he got tired of living like what he calls an "old man."

"I did research on nutrition, read studies and books on preventing aging," Lee says. He started changing his diet and exercising. "I have seen so many improvements. I sleep better, have more energy, stopped having stomach problems, and my aches and pains went away."

Lee adds, "I feel like I'm forty."

Now Lee is taking his enthusiasm for healthy living on the road. He speaks about nutrition and exercise to various community groups and is putting together his health tips on a Web site.

One of his biggest fans is Kristina, who is forty years younger than Lee. "I heard him give a presentation, and I was so impressed with Lee. He asked me if I was ready to change my life and I said I was," Kristina said. She has since changed her habits and feels better than ever. "If anyone would have told me a seventy-two-year-old retiree would change my life, I wouldn't have believed it," she said, "but now I know better."

Dana-Farber's Center for Community-Based Research studied workplaces where employers provided health, safety, and quitting smoking programs as one comprehensive service, and workplaces where such programs were offered separately. At the end of two years, the investigators found that more than twice as many workers quit smoking and maintained a healthy diet in the comprehensive service as in the separate programs.

Copyright © 2003 by David Niven, Ltd.