When You Cause Your Own Health Problems

What Happens When You Abuse Your Own Health

Janie is over fifty years old, a diabetic, and at least 100 pounds overweight. In addition to that she has asthma and smokes.

Sandra is in her forties. Last year she had a mild heart attack. Her doctor put a stint in one of her arteries. She went for a checkup a few weeks ago and her doctor recommended she get a second stint. Sandra is a smoker too.

A few years ago I volunteered to work at a Bingo hall to help raise money for a worthy cause. There were several people who came to play who were extremely overweight and heavy smokers and get this, they were toting oxygen tanks with them!

These folks are playing Russian Roulette with their health.

It doesn’t matter what their family says to them. It doesn’t matter what their friends say.  And if they go to the doctor, it doesn’t matter what they say.  They always have an excuse for what they are doing.

“I’m nervous and smoking relaxes me.”

“I know I am not supposed to eat sweets but I can’t help myself.”

“I know smoking is bad for me but I just can’t stop.”

There’s more than one way to ruin our health.

There are lots of ways to take risks with our health. Some people drink too much, others eat too much. Then there are those who won’t go to the doctor because “they are afraid of what they might find out.” And unfortunately there are those who don’t go because they can’t afford it. I have a friend who only takes half her medication because it’s so expensive and that’s a way to make it last longer.

Every poor choice we make about our health (especially if we keep repeating it) will most likely have a bad consequence. If it’s in our power to make better choices and we don’t do it when something bad finally happens we have no one to blame but ourselves.

I have heard people say, “My grandfather lived to be one hundred and he drank moonshine and smoked a pack a day.”   Maybe so but that’s still not a guarantee that his grandchildren will.

And yes, I know that people who don’t drink or smoke, who aren’t overweight, and who exercise and eat right, still get sick, still get cancer and still die of heart attacks. Believe me, I know. My mom never smoked or drank but she got colon cancer and died at the age of 51.

But why would anyone deliberately ignore what doctors have told us is NOT a healthy way to live. Why do so many people play Russian Roulette with their health?

I don’t know, but I do know that there are people who love them and care about them  and  who really wish they would stop before the bullet finally hits them.

Resources

Why you shouldn’t smoke.

Why you shouldn’t drink.

Risks of being overweight.