Beyond Pills: Rethinking Health in the Age of Quick Fixes
Looking at health from a different, more holistic perspective
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Hey everyone! I hope y’all had a great weekend! It’s officially Halloweekend, and the spooky season is finally coming to its ultimate climax. I’ll be suited up in character from one of my favorite movies of all time, and I can’t wait to see all the pop culture costumes that people are going to whip out this year (hint…it’s all gonna be Barbie). I’m kinda late publishing this piece this week, so enough of my BS about Halloween, I’ll just drop this video here for everyone to start getting ready.
For today’s blog, I want to talk about a topic that I probably have no right to give any opinion or insight on, and that is health. Now you may think, “Will…it’s unsafe and unwise to try and influence people’s opinions on a matter that is paramount in people’s day-to-day life, and it may even be considered dangerous.” To that, I say fair point, but this is my blog, and I’ll write about any topic I think is interesting and worth writing about to both provide insight to anyone reading this and also teach myself a thing or two in the process. So…without further ado…let’s get it!
DISCLAIMER: none of the following information is medical advice. Take this with a grain of salt, but not too much salt because too much sodium can harm your health (and that wasn’t medical advice either).
New Wonder Drug? Well…
Every once in a while, a drug comes out from the pharmaceutical industry that is touted as a “wonder drug” with the ability to significantly change the lives of millions of people across the world. Although many advances would like to claim this title, there is one that is taking storm at the moment: GLP-1 Drugs
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are a class of prescription medications that have proven to be extremely effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but, more importantly and famously, have also been used in weight management in obese patients without diabetes. Examples of GLP-1s include drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. In a basic sense (as I’m no scientist), these drugs suppress a hormone called glucagon, thus reducing hunger and increasing feelings of fullness by delaying the emptying of the stomach.
The results of these drugs have been quite staggering. A 2021 research review found that taking 2.4 mg of Wegovy once a week led to significant reductions in weight across multiple studies. Furthermore, in another study with about 2,000 people with obesity, taking 2.4 mg of Wegovy weekly experienced a 14.9% reduction in body weight. To put that in perspective, it would be like someone who weighs 300 lbs. being able to lose 45 lbs. from taking this drug bringing them down to 255 lbs.
This is fantastic for tons of people across the world (particularly Americans as about 42% of US adults are obese), surely there can be no downsides…right? Well, on a recent episode of the All-In podcast (must-listen podcast in general IMO), the guys mentioned some of the downsides of the drug. Firstly, while 20% of weight loss from starving yourself with no drugs comes from lean muscle mass (things you want to keep), that figure jumps as high as 40% of weight loss from muscle mass while individuals are on these GLP-1 drugs.
Furthermore, there is a common trend amongst people who take these drugs that once they are taken off of these drugs, they typically gain the weight back in just a few months, or even gain more weight than they had before starting the prescription. This is mostly due to a person’s baseline metabolism decreasing during a state of starvation and thus, the body is not prepared to burn the additional calories that come with more food in your system. To quickly illustrate, imagine your metabolism operates at 2,000 calories per day. Since you consume less food while on a drug like Ozempic, your body’s metabolism decreases with less food intake to something like 1,500 calories per day. However, once you get off the drug and start eating as much as you did before, your body is not operating to burn this much food, thus leading to a caloric surplus which then turns into more fat (aka weight).
I know I spent some time disavowing this drug, but generally speaking, the growth and expansion of GLP-1s will provide incredible societal health benefits. However, the point of beginning with this case is to provide an example that solutions to issues people may have that involve drugs or supplements are not always 100% perfect. They may even have long-term negative consequences as a result of use.
Pharma Solutions are Sometimes Just Quick Fixes
Why is this the case? Well, in some instances, drugs serve more as a “bandaid” rather than a permanent and complete solution to an issue that a person is having. Looking at the example mentioned above, GLP-1s serve to help one reduce weight by artificially making someone less hungry but don’t solve the issues that caused the person to become obese in the first place.
Another example could be something like antidepressants, which about 13-14% of all US adults are taking. In a general sense, antidepressants work by balancing certain chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters (i.e. serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, etc.) to affect mood. Some of the most common antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil specifically attempt to increase serotonin levels in the brain, leading to improved moods. Similar to the last example, these antidepressants artificially improve mood, but don’t provide solutions to the underlying problems that brought a person to a depressive state.
This same logic can also be used to describe things outside of drugs. In fact, it can be applied to the second-most common beverage worldwide every year: coffee. Commonly consumed within the first hour of someone waking up, coffee provides a quick caffeine burst that gives consumers some energy to help tackle the beginning of their day. This beverage alone has created multiple multi-billion dollar companies who are probably making a butt load this time of year with pumpkin-spice lattes in full force. However, similar to the previous examples, coffee artificially boosts one’s energy levels but doesn’t resolve the cause of feelings of sleepiness.
I could go on and on with more and more examples of similar instances, but I think you get the point: while some drugs and stimulants may appear as permanent solutions to problems people face, they act as temporary bandages that one must continually change instead of fixing the root cause of the issue. To further add to the issue with these drugs and stimulants, prolonged use can also lead to reliance on these substances, which can lead to a whole host of problems when one attempts to get off of said drug or stimulant.
If this is the case, then why are these drugs and supplements constantly touted as solutions? Well…it’s different for each case. Coffee, for instance, is mostly used because people love the way it tastes and smells (agree with the latter, but not the former). For drugs, it can be a little more sinister at times, as seen by the opioid epidemic where doctors were financially incentivized to prescribe more opioids to their patients. In some instances, opioid manufacturers paid many doctors over $25k, with hundreds receiving payments in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Back to Basics: Embrace our Biological Blueprint
So…if drugs and stimulants in many instances act as just temporary solutions to problems that require deeper solutions, then what are those deeper solutions?
Well, the solutions can really change from issue to issue. For instance, if you are an avid coffee drinker because you are tired in the morning, the root cause is likely due to poor quality sleep. If you are taking GLP-1s to help reduce your weight, the issue is probably stemming from dietary choices or lack of exercise. If you are prescribed antidepressants to help improve your mood, there’s probably a reason you are not in a good mood in the first place that is going unsolved by taking these drugs.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this equation, there is a general concept I like to think about. Our current Homo Sapien state as a species has existed for over 300,000 years, and at our very core, we are still biologically the same creature that lived in caves, hunted wild animals with spears for food, discovered fire, and any other types of living that would now be considered “animalistic”. Some of the old Geico commercials show that these early humans aren’t all that different after all:
Jokes aside, the point is that we are still the same creatures, and thus we are still programmed to function and operate like them. Our bodies were programmed to move constantly & fight off predators, live off of food that grew on plants or came off an animal’s body, follow a circadian rhythm for being awake and falling asleep, and more. Thus, it is in our interest to follow these basic actions as that is literally what we’re biologically programmed for as humans.
While our world today is much different (albeit better) than the world of the earliest humans, it is challenging to maintain some of these consistent patterns like the earliest versions of ourselves.
We exercise significantly less, with most people seemingly tied down to a desk for 8 hours a day.
We eat highly processed and unnatural foods
We have put light sources (aka screens) in front of our faces at all times during the day, confusing our bodies about whether or not it’s time to sleep or stay awake
Thus, while taking medicines or supplements can help assist in tackling a problem one is having, you should always look to supplements and eventually replace the drug or supplement with a habit that ties back to the natural state of humans. If you are looking to lose weight, you should center your diet around fruits, veggies, and meats rather than deep-fried Oreos. If you are struggling with getting good quality sleep, you should create a consistent nightly routine that involves not looking at your phone 30 minutes before going to bed rather than doom-scrolling TikTok. If you are struggling with depressive episodes, you should strive to get consistent and quality exercise which studies show can be more effective than drugs or psychotherapy.
Taking these types of actions is necessary to maintain a healthy, fruitful (pun intended) lifestyle. Now…do I always abide by these rules? Absolutely not…I had a burger with a side of fries, and a milkshake last night for dinner. However, striving to build habits that tie us back to our earliest roots will work wonders for you in my humble, non-doctoral opinion.
Conclusion
With this blog, am I saying that I don’t believe in medicine and we should all begin using hippie “natural” solutions? Absolutely not; the average life expectancy of humans has significantly increased over the last century largely due to medical advancements in the form of drugs. Furthermore, there are certain illnesses or conditions where drugs are required to maintain and healthy and living state (i.e. ARTs for HIV/AIDS). However, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree Even in this more advanced world that we live in, we are still the same people who used to fend off lions daily, and we should try to replicate similar habits and actions that our bodies were built for. Although I am far from being a medical professional and I can almost guarantee I never will be (still young, so who knows), I hope that you can take something out of this blog that encourages you to create a new habit or make different lifestyle choices, that help you achieve healthier, longer, and hopefully happier lives.
Thanks for reading! Again…I will state that I am not a doctor, and although I always recommend that you take what I say with a grain of salt, you probably definitely should when it comes to medical advice. Blogs for the next two weeks will be tough to publish as I begin traveling to Austin in the middle of next week and the week after I’ll be writing in Portugal, but I’ll try to persevere nonetheless. My LA review will be coming out next week, so stay tuned!
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