Now or Later…When Will You Invest In Your Health?
Posted August 12th, 2014
Confucius said, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is NOW.”
It’s inevitable—we all will age! So, the question now becomes, how do you want to age? Do you want to leave the process up to chance or do you want to take control of your own aging process? And, ultimately, do you want to treat diseases or prevent them?
First of all, how do you see yourself as you grow older? For many, “old age” brings up images of wheelchairs and nursing homes. If that’s in your mind, STOP! It doesn’t have to turn out that way! I want to clear your mind entirely of these images. I want to totally blow the idea out of the water that you are destined to become more sick and frail, just because you are aging. And I can show you how to do it.
For years now, I have been studying the science of anti-aging medicine. This science is not about preventing death or even about “not aging.” Of course we all age and we will all eventually die. But, age management medicine is about taking a proactive and preventative approach in optimizing the health you already have.
The health you have today and the length of time you manage to keep it are directly related to the choices you make each and every day. However, if you leave important health decisions up to fate, (or even worse, up to your insurance carrier) you are taking a chance on your future.
This is good news to most people. In these times it seems we have lost control of our retirement policy and the value of our homes or our credit card balances—but at least we can take control of our health!
Unfortunately, in our current society, 80% of health dollars are spent in the last 20% of life. What’s important, is that you can change this statistic by investing in preventive health now. I’m not saying that prevention will always reduce overall costs, but what I am saying is that moving those costs up front can help you live a better quality of life as you get older.
The most recent research shows that the majority of American couples are spending $220,000 in healthcare costs after the age of 65 years. So, do you want to spend it on creating a higher quality of life for yourself now, or do you want to save your money for expensive treatments later in life when you are trying to “hang in there.”
There are many retirement health insurance plans that allow you to put money in now that can be used later. However, by doing this, people are making a conscious decision to pay for treatment rather than prevention. And, unfortunately, many times the type or care and provider is left up to the discretion of the insurance company.
Most of us already know that if we just made the choices to stay active and fit, eat right and stop smoking, we would be ahead on the aging scale. But what most don’t know is that there are literally hundreds of other ways to better our health; some are lifestyle changes we make on our own, and many require the expertise and guidance of a medical specialist.
The traditional medical approach is based on running labs and procedures on a disease process after it occurs. Though important, a newer more proactive approach focuses on diagnostic testing in advance of illness in order to find the disease process before it finds you.
How do you picture your life in 15 to 30 years? Do you dream of playing with your grandkids, taking walks on the beach, and dancing at weddings? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are envisioning a high quality of life in your later years. And, now, you need a health plan that reflects this.
There is no better time than now to take the reins and take control of where your life is headed. At The Renewal Point we guide you through a full 12-month concierge medical program which includes lab tests, comprehensive assessments, expert guidance, and integrated treatments so that you can get ahead of the factors that influence health—rather than simply responding to their breakdown.