Why Patients Don’t Follow Expert’s Advice to Decrease Health Risk
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States of America (Heart.org). Yet, most patients don’t show concern for the need to decrease health risk. The most significant contributor to the increasing number in fatality rate is lack of commitment to a heart-healthy lifestyle. Research by the CDC found that only one out of three patients follows the right path to decreasing the health risk factors. In this paper, I will discuss some of the reasons why many patients don’t follow their doctor’s risk reduction instructions.
First, communication obstructions frequently go undetected in health care settings and can affect the well-being and security of patients. Limited proficiency abilities are perhaps the most grounded indicator of unexpected frailty results for patients. Studies have demonstrated that when patients have low understanding and knowledge, they think less about their incessant illnesses, they are more terrible at dealing with their care, and they are less inclined to take preventive measures for their health. As a result, most patients don’t understand what specific terms mean, ending up doing what is not required of them.
Second, many patients are ignorant about health issues and the level of vulnerability in which some lifestyle and behaviors put them into. Even though people know that smoking is dangerous and is a more significant health risk factor, they still do it arguing that many people smoke and don’t die. With such a mentality, people find themselves trapped in a given lifestyle that seems extremely hard to abandon. Similarly, others won’t change their lifestyle pattern because they are ignorant to believe the death numbers related to heart disease released each year. Some believe that it is only a way of forcing them out of a given lifestyle.
Third, some patients cannot switch to a new lifestyle due to their social status. Fast foods are readily available and cheap. As a result, people find it hard to adapt to a new system of eating when they cannot afford them. With the massive consumption of foods rich in cholesterol and triglycerides, they become vulnerable to obesity and other heart disease risk factors. Conversely, people who are high on the social status pyramid find it extremely difficult to switch to a new lifestyle of physical activities because they are not used to it.
People live in a world of lifestyle and prestige. The people we hang around with can have an enormous influence in shaping our lives. Some people might want to quit drinking alcohol, but because of peer influence, they get stuck in the same world over and over again. Similarly, the world of technology plays a very significant role in shaping minds. With so many TV commercials on alcohol, people who try to quit smoking and drinking alcohol become eager to try new brands. Also, some people are addicted that they cannot easily quit drinking and smoking.
Finally, our environment plays a vital role in determining who we are and what we do every day. We can try to switch to a different lifestyle, but sometimes the environment adds other problems because it is beyond our control. For example, a patient can decide to stop smoking or limit alcohol consumption but loses his job the next day. In such a situation, the patient develops stress, which is another risk factor. Therefore, as much as people try to stick to health risk requirements, their environment puts them in difficult situations beyond their control.