Stupid Health Habits

We all know people who have a terrible diet, are overweight and smoke, yet they live to be 100. On the other hand, we know someone who spends most of their time in Spandex or Yoga pants, spends 30 minutes in the probiotic aisle figuring out which yogurt to buy, and dies of a heart attack at 45 doing a downward dog.

The fact is that most healthy habit recommendations, whether they come from the US Preventive Task Force or the Huffington Post are based on probabilities, risk factors and biostatistical odds ratios derived from studies with varying degrees of research rigor and sometimes from self serving interests like the bottled water industry, the dairy industry or agribusiness.

Take, for example, eating breakfast as "the most important meal of the day". But some scientists argue this is all a myth - and that just because we keep repeating it doesn't make it true.

Here are some other recommendations you might want to reconsider:

1. Drink skim milk

2. Do sit ups

3. Drink 8 glasses of water a day

4. Since a little exercise is good, more is better so do as much as you can tolerate

5. Take lots of vitamins and supplements

6. Get an annual check up

7. Don't eat eggs

8. Rely on sunscreen to prevent melanoma

9. Believe everything you read about getting 8 hours of sleep a night.

10. Do everything you can to eliminate all the stress in your life

11. Flossing your teeth

12. Don't drink wine

Given your genetic makeup and what we know and don't know about risk factors to your health, a healthy mix of moderation, common sense, a little fun now and then and a favorable roll of the dice is probably the best advice. PIck your parents wisely.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs at www.sopenet.org and author of the free Blogbook of Physician Entrepreneurship at www.hcplive.com/contributor/arlen-meyers-md-mba