10 Ideas to Improve Public Health

The Why? - population health is about creating the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions that make people healthy, and that working towards creating these conditions should be the highest aspiration of public health.

Make the healthy choice the easy choice.

To end and mend needless, excessive, unnecessary human suffering.

Ideally, Health Maximization is aligned with economic, cultural, freedom of choice in a democratic republic (within contextual safety measures).

1. Remove ultra-processed junk foods from all public schools, day-cares, prisons, and hospitals

2. Improve regulatory safety measures on junk food and fast-food marketing to be at least on par with the vast majority of other 1st world countries

3. Improve regulatory safety measures on ingredients and manufacturing processes allowed in the US to be at least on par with the vast majority of other 1st world countries

4. Acknowledge easy and accessible lifestyle medicine as a public health priority, not prioritizing infinitely fragmented downstream symptom-based diagnosis system of health

5. Prioritize family-household dynamics in public health.

A strong family has much greater opportunity and access for healthier choices, healthier lifestyles, and less stress as well

6. Prioritize Prevention for Health Maximization - listen to leaders preaching health span & lifespan.

We can live to 100, but if our last 40 years are full of suffering, it isn’t a life well lived at all. We want to grow into peak health and maintain good health throughout the longevity of our life just like we know to be possible through Blue Zones and other examples

7. Design regular movement into your everyday lifestyle, especially the chance to lift something heavy with the full use of your functional body at least 1-2x day 5x/wk.

Also, important to prioritize is the use of all muscle groups to maximize your full human functional capacity. Squat, stride, lift, carry, push, pull.

8. Acknowledge the healing power of community

They say it takes a village to raise a child. They say depression lives in the dark and love lives in the light. Likewise, much of our concerns around mental health, addiction, and substance abuse begin with early life trauma, social isolation, poor self-esteem, desire for escapism, etc. Human health is best supported in a strong bonded, loving community full of safety, security, and trust.

9. Reduce and Restrict use of commonly prescribed pain medications, opioids, and update drug and medication tracking systems

10. Eliminate the extensive consumer exploitation strategies employed by large pharmaceutical corporations such as controlled patents, paying researchers, public health research held behind superfluous paywalls for the everyday consumer

11. Bonus Idea: Integrate human health literacy within every level of early education like examples in Japan with communal meals, student participation in meal planning and preparing, and more

Education is an important driver in all of health ROI. Without education, someone cannot reach health on their own. Improve education, improve potential health risks and projected health trajectory over the lifespan.

12. Bonus Idea: Delete Twitter

Cal Newport suggested once that we delete Twitter to lower population stress levels, lower blood pressure and improve our poor sleep habits - all of which would probably be legitimately improved with better personal use of social media / screen time online

13. Additional Bonus Ideas I posted on Twitter (the irony, I know)

Let the countdown begin:

https://twitter.com/_JonathanZaZa/status/1500693500274302978?s=20&t=i3ZmIWDUWNQYGhVq9xkvIA