The Economics of Feeling Good

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August 21, 2015

Does economics have anything to do with feeling good? What’s economics anyway!? These are probably the two questions bugging you the most regarding the title of this article. Let’s illustrate.

Economics is the study which concerns itself with how you choose to use your resources. In this context the word resources predominantly pertains to money and savings. Will you choose to utilise your resources to buy supplements or take your chances of not getting sick or developing a disease?

Take a look at the table below showing the leading causes of death in the adult population of New Zealand from 2004 to 2006.

	Males	Females
Maori	Ischaemic heart disease	Ischaemic heart disease
	Lung cancer	Lung cancer
	Diabetes	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
	Suicide	Cerebrovascular disease
	Motor vehicle related	Diabetes

Non-Maori	Ischaemic heart disease	Ischaemic heart disease
	Suicide	Breast cancer
	Lung cancer	Cerebrovascular disease
	Cerebrovascular disease	Lung cancer
	Colorectal cancer	Colorectal cancer
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The number one cause of death among the adult population of New Zealand is ischaemic heart disease for both sexes, Maori and non-Maori. Imagine how preventable a disease ischaemic heart disease is. Nobody is born with ischaemic heart disease. You develop it through a complex interplay of factors including lifestyle, diet, and lastly genetics.

There is very little we can do about genetics, but there are plenty of things we can do about diet and lifestyle ( and this can hugely affect whether your genetic dispositions actually "express" themselves ) . In fact, here at Return2Health, we’re all about symbolising and advocating a healthy lifestyle and diet.

To prevent ischaemic heart disease, here are some ideas to support prevention over cure:

1. Instead of buying cigarettes, why not just stop smoking and allocate your money towards buying healthy food? You have economics at work here. Quitting smoking has major and immediately noticeable health benefits. Yeah , yeah - this is a no brainer.. Do it!
2. Supplement with approximately 1000mg of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and > 2000mg alpha linolenic acid (ALA) daily. Ensuring you have an adequate intake of these three essential fatty acids daily, dramatically lessens your chance of developing ischaemic heart disease in the long run. Hospitalisation costs for ischaemic heart disease in New Zealand can easily reach thousands of dollars. Why didn’t you just take precautions? Economics my friend.
3. Drink less alcohol. ( Another no-brainier ) The less you drink, the more money you have available to pay for other essential stuff. Economics again.

The list of possible things you can do to modify your diet and lifestyle to prevent ischaemic heart disease is lengthy. And this is just one disease! Remember the other conditions in the table? Allocating your resources towards prevention BEFORE you develop a disease should be your goal. If sacrifices need to be made in order to attain these health goals, then so be it.

Economics boils down to saving money, your money. You may not see it immediately when you’re buying several supplements at once and shelling out the extra cash. The proof however will be in your medical bills, these will certainly show where you may have neglected your health over the years. Your current medical condition(s) a reminder of what could have been prevented with a little more financial priority placed on supplements and your lifestyle. Feeling good secondary to preserving health and preventing disease does carry a small price tag compared to a much heftier one when you’re sick.

By prioritising your health now and putting in the extra effort, time and money in preventing disease, you will certainly save a lot of money in the long run. Being sick, debilitated and possibly hospitalised is no fun and not cheap. Think about that. Learn economics my friend, allocate your resources more efficiently and make your health a priority!

Perhaps we can rephrase the title of this article to ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’