Does Seeing The Same Doctor Help You Live Longer, Like A Medical Shield?:
In the search for good health, many people go to great lengths.
And this site is all about the different avenues people look down for fixes and improvements.
While things like nutrition, vitamins, supplements and biotech research are some of those,
There are also a few “Stealth Factors” out there, that are frequently overlooked.
And UK researchers found a big piece of that puzzle, hidden in the most obvious place of all; -your doctor’s office…
Frequently-Overlooked, But Still There; The Human Element:
So as we hinted-at before with Jamie Shupak’s story,
One of the most underestimated elements of good health and perhaps life-success is The Human Element.
In her case, it was a friend who changed her life.
And the UK researchers found that the relationship with your doctor changes your life, too.
Not At All Obvious:
One of the easiest places to hide a fact or revelation is either in plain-sight, ar at a TED talk.
In both cases, once people are made aware of it, they will say they knew it the whole time anyway.
Well this team showed by examining mortality rates for doctor-consistency.
And across 9 countries, and still more sub-cultures and health-systems, this study-of-studies showed the same thing in each case:
People who stay with the same doctor lead healthier lives and live longer.
In some cases, the rates of mortality were reduced as much as 50%!
Seeing The Same Doctor Means Longer-Life, The Numbers Don’t Lie:
The researchers found that after looking at 22 studies,
That cover 400,000 people,
The effects were consistent for 82 percent of patients.
The countries surveyed included The US, Canada, France, The UK, The Netherlands, Croatia, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan, to name a few.
Not only that, the effects were so strong, they held not just for someone’s GP,
But also for all the different Specialists they went to, like Surgeons, Psychiatrists, etc. also!
It’s All In Our Heads, But Maybe It Also Takes Two:
So the main thesis is that seeing the same people establishes something called, “Continuity Of Care”.
On one side, this can mean that any given doctor has been with that patient long enough to really know all of their little unique quirks.
On the other side of the transaction, this can also mean that a doctor someone chooses to stick with is also one that the patient feels comfortable communicating with,
And because of that, they communicate better.
And also due to that comfort, the patient also Listens to the doctor and More-Faithfully Implements their programs for improvement.
The Serious Intervention Stats Show It, Too:
Not only were patients more likely to listen to their doctors about fixes,
But the researchers also posit that people were more likely to Implement the doctor’s ideas on Preventative-Measures, also.
And those people showed this trait by also having significantly-fewer Hospital and Emergency-Room visits, too.
I guess an ounce of prevention really is worth saving $1500 on your stitches!
And let’s not understate it, these add up to effects that are every bit of being potentially life-saving!
The Virtuous-Circle Is Worth Any Inconvenience:
Even if it’s going to take longer for you to do it, and will increase inconvenience, the results are worth it.
The ideal minimum is going to the same doctor for at least 2 years to be in the statistical class that starts to see the benefits.
Many of us also know someone for whom one small mistake led to a chain-of-events that resulted in a very serious problem.
That is a Vicious-Cycle.
But if you turn it around the other way with Continuity-Of-Care from seeing the same doctor, you can make it work for your longevity to create a Virtuous Circle instead.
Photo Credits: “Mani”, by Francesca Francesca
Links
• Source: University of Exeter, UK
• Source Study: BMJOpen – Continuity of care with doctors—a matter of life and death? A systematic review of continuity of care and mortality
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