Comment by sevensor
1 month ago
To be fair, this is also what I hear from my GP when I have no complaints at all. It’s not bad advice, but I think it’s what most doctors tell patients they deem basically healthy. Nobody gets hurt by eating fewer peanut butter cups and taking the dog for a longer walk.
On one visit to my doctor, where the issue was a sports related injury, my doctor told me to get more exercise. Obviously the advice is parroted so often she just blurted it out without thinking. She knows full well I train regularly and if anything get too much exercise.
It’s strange - I had a heart attack almost eight years ago because of years of neglect and decided to do the opposite. I took it so far that I built an application to track everything I do and how it helps (or keeps me from) reaching my goals.
For the longest time all my data said exercise more. That was expected since I literally didn’t move all the way to a cardiac ward. Then all of a sudden it shifted to ‘exercise less, drink less coffee and sleep much more.’
I understand why doctors fall into that blind spot. It was perfect advice for me for a long time and took a lot of failure (and remarkably bad coping mechanisms) for me to figure out.
Doctors in my country get 15 minutes per patient. Anything more and the insurance company doesn't pay.
Modern medicine is basically a factory line that never ends.