Reality based decision making - it's important

Came across this graphic the other day and wanted to comment on it. Reality based decision making is important - because it saves lives.

When we have problems it's very easy to make assumptions about what is causing those problems. The problem is - if you don't know what is causing your problem, you won't know what will work to solve it and you can end up making your problem a whole lot worse.

Science based approaches to problem solving help us fix our problems. We should use them and reject non-science based approaches if we actually want to be successful.  

We now use science for medical problems, but we should also use it to help us fix our economy. We don't have to guess. People have studied this. We also know what works with health care policy and what policies make things worse.

So everyone - please push for science based solutions everywhere in every realm of your life, but in particular, the political realm. While making guesses may hurt you - when governments guess - they can end up killing a LOT of people.

To learn more about reality based decision making, consider taking my online course: 

https://humanistlearning.com/realitybaseddecisionmaking/

The Price of Rejecting Reality is High – Cupping Edition

The Olympics are now over and its time we talk about the rather dangerous woo on display.

Athletes, like all humans, can be very superstitious. Pretty much every Olympics there is some “health” fad that American athletes swear by. This year it was cupping.

Cupping is an “ancient’ practice where you basically use suction to give yourself rather large hickeys all over your body. The premise is that suction draws out – toxins of some sort from your body. It’s pseudo-non-science because it seems plausible. You are – after all – creating suction.  But it is wooey non-science regardless.

What’s the harm?  Oh – let me show you – it’s kind of gross though, so I’m only giving you the link. http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/07/01/whats-the-harm-cupping-edition/ 

Basically – cupping breaks blood vessels in your skin and damages your skin. I have no idea why anyone would think this feels good or would be good for them. It’s broken blood vessels!  Do that enough often enough and the damage caused can be compounded and made permanent.

Depending on how the cupping is done, you can also get very serious burns on your skin. Which is also skin damage and again, I can’t imagine why anyone would do this to their body intentionally. If you didn’t click though – the article I linked to has pictures of a guy with burnt holes in his back that go all the way through the skin.

The worse part about this is that there is zero medical benefit from this at all. ZERO! So even if you don’t get burned or damage your skin, you are still wasting time and money on a treatment that is basically a placebo.

The price of rejecting reality is indeed high.

The Importance of Science Literacy in Health Care

There is no area of life where critical thinking is more important than in your health care choices.

Unfortunately, cutting through the clutter to the science is not easy. I am a member of a woo free mom’s group online. A group of moms who are dedicated to ensuring we make science based choices for our families and ourselves when it comes to health decisions. And we struggle with it.

The most often asked question is – is this woo or not.  (Woo is information that looks sciencey – but isn’t).  If we have trouble figuring it out, it’s not easy.

So why make the effort? Because your life may depend on it.  Is salt good or bad for you? How much fat can or should you eat? Who can we trust when the science seems to change all the time! First fat is bad, then it’s good then it’s only sort of good but only if it’s certain types of fat – but wait – isn’t coconut oil good, maybe not – depends on what you are using it for and whether you have heart health problems. (sigh)

My husband recently had to have some heart stents put in.  Ok – so I research them. Find out well yes, the new stents that prevent reclosing of the artery also increase risks of blood clots slightly – which is why you have to take blood thinners for at least a year afterwards.

Why risk this? Because with no stent, the arteries reclose 30% of the time and with non-medicated stents 25% of the time, but with the new medicated stents they reclose only 10% of the time. So in the risk reward analysis – the slight increase risk of blood clots is outweighed by the benefit of reduced likelihood of needing to do the procedure again.

Of course, if you really want to improve your chances, you have to eat right too otherwise your heart disease will continue to be a problem.

So – what have I learned from our recent medical journey?  That I need to trust the doctors!  I can do all the research I want and totally freak myself out with fear and confusion, or ... I could just ask the doctor who is actually trained on these things and understands the science because – that’s his rather specialized job (I am saying he because my husband’s cardiologist is a he).  Asking this doctor questions taught me more than all of my own research.

I’m not saying don’t educate yourself. I’m saying Doctor Googles isn’t always reliable. (see http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800)  If you are confused after consulting Doctor Googles, which you probably will be, consult an actual professional. They really do know more than you do.