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Blue Zones Project Blog

Live Longer, Better® 

3 min read

How the Blue Zones Project Collective Impact Approach Improved Well-Being in Three U.S. Communities

By Blue Zones Project on Oct 21, 2022 2:09:00 PM

Since its establishment in 2010, Blue Zones Project by Sharecare has worked to transform well-being in 71 communities across North America, reaching more than 4.5 million residents of those communities. This decade-plus of experience in implementing the Blue Zones Project collective-impact approach to community well-being provides a unique opportunity to determine the influence the initiative has had in advancing sustained, long-term well-being improvement at the community level.
Topics: Beach Cities Featured
2 min read

The Value of Prevention in Physical Exams

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Oct 20, 2022 6:30:00 AM

Preventive care is more important than an annual physical, according to both an Archives of Internal Medicine article and the past president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Preventive care is incorporated into an annual exam only about 20% of the time with the remaining 80% of prevention occurring during other office visits or venues.

Topics: Move Naturally Bulletin
3 min read

Cancer—Opportunities to Improve

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Oct 13, 2022 9:15:00 AM

Cancer is still too common and deadly—even though early diagnosis and better treatments are available. Cancer death rates downward trends in mortality (cancer death rates) are the gold standard for evidence of progress against cancer. Adults overall, cancer death rates decreased 2.2% per year (on average) among males and 1.7% per year (on average) among females. In fact, for ages under 65, neoplasms (cancer) account for 26 percent of deaths while heart disease only 18 percent. For individuals over age 65, cancer fatalities drop to 22 percent, while cardiac disease deaths increase to 29 percent. Although both cancer and heart disease prognoses have improved since 1975, the rate of improvement for cancer lags behind that of heart disease.

Topics: Plant Slant Bulletin
3 min read

Counting Calories When Dining Out

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Oct 6, 2022 9:00:00 AM

It is said, “We are what we eat,” and, as a nation, we are eating too much! Further, we don’t fully understand what we are consuming. Americans increasingly rely on restaurant dining. In 1970, we spent just 26% of our food dollars on eating out whereas today’s modern family spends 44% on away-from-home meals. The average American today consumes about one-third of his or her food calories at restaurants and other food-service establishments, while 30 years ago only 18% of our calories were consumed in restaurants.

Topics: Eat Wisely Plant Slant Bulletin
1 min read

Blue Zones Tips for Sleeping Soundly

By Blue Zones Project on Oct 3, 2022 10:00:00 AM

When we’re feeling stressed or pressed for time, many of us are tempted to give up a few precious hours of sleep to tick a few more items off our to-do lists. But trading too much sleep for wakefulness comes at a cost.

Topics: Right Outlook
2 min read

Health Literacy Can Save Lives

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Sep 29, 2022 7:00:00 AM

Being able to comprehend your own health issues makes a significant difference in your overall health outcomes. By following instructions, reading, correctly administering prescriptions, understanding your diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment—you will determine what happens to you and how well you live... perhaps even how long you live.

Topics: Bulletin
3 min read

Taking Your Medications Faithfully

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Sep 22, 2022 12:57:24 PM

Taking your prescription and over-the-counter medications faithfully will help you stay healthier, live longer, be more productive, and reduce cost. Former U. S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop stated the obvious: “Drugs don’t work in people who don’t use them.” There are 3 billion prescriptions written each year but only about 50% are taken correctly. With only about half of all people for whom medications are prescribed adhering to the regimens, more than one hundred billion dollars is spent each year on avoidable hospitalizations—according to a New England Journal of Medicine article. An estimated 89,000 premature deaths from high blood pressure could be avoided if patients took their anti-hypertensive medicines faithfully.

Topics: Bulletin
2 min read

Prostrate Cancer Screening

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Sep 15, 2022 8:00:00 AM

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, except for skin cancer that is generally not as serious except for melanoma. This year, an estimated 164,690 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Understanding how to best detect prostate cancer is the first step to helping.

Topics: Bulletin
2 min read

Osteoporosis—the Silent Crippler

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Sep 8, 2022 9:30:00 AM

Osteoporosis is a disease which discriminates against women. One half of all women and one fourth of all men over age fifty will have a fracture due to osteoporosis at some time during their lives. Approximately 19 billion dollars per year is spent in the United States to repair two million fractures (broken bones). Of these, 297,000 are hip fractures, 547,000 vertebral fractures, 397,000 wrists, 135,000 pelvic and 675,000 are fractures at other sites.

Topics: Eat Wisely Move Naturally Bulletin Right Outlook
2 min read

Prescription Drug Addiction: An Under-Recognized Problem

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Sep 1, 2022 8:00:00 AM

An estimated 20% of Americans use prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. This overuse or abuse of pain medications, sedatives, or stimulants can easily seduce the brain’s “reward pathways” into desiring more medications than are needed or are therapeutic.

Topics: Bulletin Right Outlook

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