Medical professionals reveal the “bad” everyday habits that are slowly destroying your health

Note: Some answers were pulled from this Reddit thread by u/Sea_Fig1387 and this one by u/setealemtresspasser.

1. “I’m an associate surgeon (PA). Don’t let abdominal pain go on for a week before seeking medical attention. Operating on a gallbladder that’s been infected for a week, for example, is astronomically more difficult than if you’d come in when it first started. It also puts you at greater risk for intraoperative complications.”

-Anonymous

2. “Don’t take care of your joints and use proper form while exercising. Pushing through discomfort is ok. Pushing through pain is not – your body is trying to tell you something!! Also, warming up and cooling down are essential, not optional!!”

-tlpg92

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3. “Eating too much processed food. Processed food has ‘hidden’ sugar and other bad ingredients. Processed foods bypass your body’s actual and necessary ‘food processor’ from chewing with saliva to fiber cleaning the lower parts of your alimentary canal.”

—elegant squid1271

4. “Internal Medicine PA here. Not doing an age-appropriate screening is just careless. Early detection can save your life. Get a Pap smear, a mammogram, a full annual skin check, a screening colonoscopy (or do the noninvasive Cologuard and skip the prep and procedure altogether; if it’s abnormal, you still need a lung cancer screening if you meet the criteria for lung cancer screening.”

“Men, talk to your provider about PSA prostate-specific antigen testing (ages 55-69). See USPSTF screening guidelines.”

— Anonymous, 46, Minnesota

5. “Brushing your teeth is only half the job. Flossing removes food particles that are stuck between your teeth and gums. If left for too long, they break down and become acidic, slowly eroding your enamel.”

“Also, brushing immediately after vomiting will exacerbate tooth damage from stomach acids. Rinse your mouth with warm water and bi-card soda to prevent further damage!”

—u/tminor94

6. “I work in the ER. Actually, follow your doctors: if they tell you to see someone, you have to. The reason your condition is getting worse is because you don’t really know anything about it, so you can’t tell when you need intervention or not. That’s what your doctors are for, and that’s why they tell you to see them even if you feel fine now.”

—u/YoungSerious

7. “Don’t wash your hands after: A) blowing your nose; B) bathroom breaks; C) handling pets, pet food, and litter boxes; D) cooking or eating, before and after; E) removing cleaning or medical gloves; F) administering any first aid, before and after; G) visiting someone sick; return home; and me) getting your hands dirty.”

— Anonymous, 72, Texas

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8. “Skip vaccines. There’s a reason certain diseases are being eradicated (ie polio), there’s a reason people are living longer, and there’s a reason there’s a steady decline in oral cervical cancer and associated HPV.”

—gaba2191

9. “Just to emphasize the importance of not smoking, if you smoke and get lung cancer from smoking, he said the cancer will be much more aggressive, will not have actionable mutations and will have low immunogenicity, making treatment options much more limited and less effective.”

—gaba2191

10. “I’m a first responder who works alongside medical professionals in the public safety field. For the love of God, if you’re going to do anything high-risk, wear a helmet. Engaging in bad ego-driven habits and taking risks will eventually kill you. I’ve seen 35 mph accidents without a helmet that resulted in death and 55 mph on a motorcycle vs. far away and needed a new helmet. You only have a skull, a brain, and a life. Don’t let ‘I need to feel the wind in my face’ or ‘helmets are for bad riders’ be the reason you don’t use one.”

“My family was devastated when my mom’s little brother hit another deer on his motorcycle and ended up with an organ donation – his skull was obliterated. Wear a damn helmet. And a seat belt. Or a jacket. Wear whatever your sport has for protective gear; your loved ones will thank you for it, and if you live to old age, your future older self will thank you too!“

— Anonymous, 37, Wisconsin

Related: ‘Young People Would Be Surprised By This’: 21 ‘Hard To Swallow’ Truths About Aging That No One Talks About

11. “Don’t stretch. Even 10 minutes a day can do wonders for your health.”

—[redacted]

12. “If you are diagnosed with a chronic problem such as congestive heart failure, diabetes, kidney failure, etc., we take a lot of time to teach you how to take care of yourself. Please, do follow the instructions. If you don’t understand, please let us know so we can continue to work with you. Do these things so you don’t get readmitted to the hospital over and over again, as this will continue to happen until one day you are discharged from the funeral home. We hate to watch you slowly kill yourself.”

—[redacted]

13. “TAKE YOUR MEDICATION IF IT’S PRESCRIBED. I can’t count the number of people I see who have a known problem, then develop another problem, and when I ask if they’re taking their medicine, they say, ‘Well, I didn’t think I needed it, so I stopped.’ I don’t care if you feel good; if your blood pressure is 200/110, you can go from ‘fine’ to ‘brain bleed’ in a second.”

—u/YoungSerious

14. “When you are prescribed antibiotics, take them as prescribed and don’t keep extra so you can ‘use them the next time you get sick.’

“Also, if you’re told to watch something, you probably should watch it. . . . We’re not saying turn around for no reason.”

—u/alex_subo

15. “Ignoring irregular sleep patterns and not getting enough sleep in general!”

— Anonymous, 65, Arizona

16. “Educate yourself about your health, your conditions, your medications, etc. It amazes me that people take prescriptions and don’t know what they’re for, or who don’t know the basics of the conditions they’ve been diagnosed with. “I don’t know” is still a common response. why don’t you know Why don’t you know things about your own body?”

“The Internet is a vast research tool that you should be using, and there are a multitude of ways you can use it to help you understand and make informed decisions about your health.”

— wandering storm

Related: 22 “Mild” Health Symptoms People Often Ignore Until It’s Too Late

And finally…

17. “Medical dietetics student here. A healthy diet includes VARIETY!!! Eat a variety of whole grains, nuts, beans, fruits, vegetables, and lean meats.”

—u/severebabyface

Note: Some answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, what other “bad” health habits do people not realize are seriously harmful? Tell us in the comments, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.

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