Andrew Fink, MD

WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTH, PROCRASTINATION IS NOT YOUR ALLY

Putting things off doesn’t always come back to bite you, but procrastinating rarely works to your benefit when your health is at stake. I am all too familiar with the consequences of postponing decisions and actions related to health because, unfortunately, I see those repercussions almost every day in my practice.

As most people navigate their way through the world with the expectation that COVID will be around but that our lives have to return to some level of normalcy, I've noticed that for many people, even getting back to basic good health habits that were routine before COVID -- like exercising or getting back on a good diet after returning from a vacation -- are harder than they seemed to be prior to COVID.

Procrastination is the Normal Reaction to Things We Don’t Want to Do

We all procrastinate and that's not always a bad thing. Sometimes we have valid reasons, including being too busy at the time or having more important priorities. When it comes to life issues that we really don’t want to deal with, it’s easy to rationalize dealing with it “some other time.” In some cases, delaying a decision can even work to our advantage when the delay allows time for the issue to resolve itself or become moot for other reasons.

More often than not, though, choosing to put off dealing with our health issues and decisions doesn’t result in the issue resolving itself. It just allows the problem to get worse and the consequences of delay to become more serious and harder to fix later.

Some Health Decisions are Easier to Postpone Than Others

It’s easy to put off seeing a doctor or a dentist if we’re not in any pain. Maybe we just feel that we don’t have time (or want to make time) to deal with it right now.

Sometimes we choose to postpone an appointment because we just don’t want to be told that we aren’t doing things we know we should do – whether it’s not eating right, gaining weight, not exercising, not brushing and flossing often enough, not taking prescribed medications the way we should, and on and on. You know the drill.

Some may anticipate and want to avoid hearing bad news about their health status or don’t want to deal with what they will need to do to get healthier, or at least not continue to let their health get worse. Even when it involves physical and/or emotional pain, some will choose to “tough it out” and continue to postpone until the pain becomes too severe to ignore or tolerate. That doesn’t mean they are being reckless or irresponsible. Different personalities and life experiences shape our decisions regarding what’s more important at any given moment and what we feel we can postpone or try to ignore.

COVID Made Procrastination a Requirement

COVID only made things worse because it closed off most non-emergent healthcare for a long time and it also gave everyone a very valid reason to postpone any non-critical treatment, much less routine, preventive care. Important medical procedures have been postponed for the past sixteen months, much less regular doctor’s appointments. The problem is that our bodies didn’t put our health challenges on “pause” during the pandemic, even if we were fortunate enough to avoid the virus.

Another COVID-related impact on many people's health during the worst of the pandemic is that changes in daily routine due to COVID exacerbated underlying, symptomless but gradually worsening health conditions, like high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol and diabetes due to people becoming more sedentary and gaining extra weight.

You Know What’s Coming Next

I strongly urge you to make an appointment to see me if any of the following apply:

- You have not been in for an appointment in more than a year.

- You have not had updated lab work in more than a year.

- You have one or more chronic, recurring conditions that need to be continually treated and monitored and you haven’t had an appointment or updated lab work within the last 4-6 months.

- You are experiencing bothersome or painful symptoms and you’re continuing to postpone or tough it out.

- You look in the mirror (literally or figuratively) and know you are less healthy than you were a year ago.

When it comes to your health, procrastination is not your ally. Help me help you.

P.S. You probably know some procrastinators you care about who you may know have health problems they are putting off. Some may not even have a physician they see regularly. We are happy to see any health procrastinators you may want to point in our direction and we accept most health insurance plans.