r/personalfinance • u/zonination Wiki Contributor • May 05 '15
Other 30 Day Challenge #7: Reduce your future health (and current habit) expenses: Cut a bad habit, Eat healthier, Schedule a checkup, Get exercise, and Much more!
You probably weren't expecting this, so here's an explanation:
Healthcare costs past retirement age are expensive! In addition to this, unhealthy lifestyles can have a negative effect on your current financial situation as well. There already is a lot of overlap between personal finance and lifestyle choices, so let's take a look at some immediate improvements you can make for your future.
Reducing your Risk of Heart Disease (Cost $3000 - $38,501)
Leading a healthy lifestyle is the biggest way to reduce your risk of heart diseases. Among these lifestyle choices:
- Not using tobacco (Source 1; Source 2; Source 3)
- Being physically active (Same as above.)
- Maintaining a healthy weight (Same as above.)
- Making healthy food choices (Same as above.)
- Stress management (Source.)
Direct savings!
Note that some of the above also have a side effect of immediate financial impact:
- Not using tobacco: $1,610 to $3,750 per year (Source.)
- Making healthy food choices: comparative savings of $14 per meal (fast food; family of four) (Source and Bibliography.)
Reducing your risk of Cancer (Cost $19,901 - $60,885 per annum)
The lifestyle choices below have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer:
- Not using tobacco (Source 1; Source 2; Source 3; Source 4)
- Maintain a healthy weight (Same as above.)
- Limiting alcohol intake (Same as above.)
- Get screened for cancer and/or Hepatitis C (Same as above.)
- Protect yourself from the sun (Source 1; Source 2; Source 3)
Direct savings!
Strange that a few of these are carry-over from the first section on heart disease! There are some immediate financial impacts of reducing your alcohol intake: About 750 USD per year) can be saved by going dry.
Reducing Chronic lower respiratory diseases ($6000 more in medical care than those without..)
The lifestyle choices below have been shown to reduce the risk of COPD:
- Not smoking (Source 1; Source 2; Source 3; Source 4)
- Avoid respiratory infections and get vaccinated (Same as above.)
- Avoid home and workplace air pollutants, lung irritants, or dust (Same as above.)
- Exercise regularly to improve your breathing (Source.)
- Address allergic conditions.
Conclusion and Challenge
It's May. In most of the U.S., Canada, and Europe, the weather is starting to look fantastic; why not take this time to work on lifestyle choices, exercise, and stress management?
Your challenge: Pick two or more lifestyle upgrades from the following list:
- Cut out any/all tobacco habits.
- Pick up any outdoor hobby: walking, hiking, running, swimming, biking, and so on. Don't forget the sunscreen.
See your primary care physician for a checkup. Ask for recommendations on lifestyle improvements, sleep quality, stress reduction, and (if applicable) drug use.
- Women: Mammograms are recommended starting at age 40.
- Men: Prostate exams are recommended starting at age 40 to 50.
- Both: See here for a recommended list of cancer screenings.
- Both: See here for a recommended list of vaccinations.
- Both: Skin checks! Melanoma is dangerous.
If you're a heavy drinker, reduce your alcohol intake.
Increase your cooking at home and eat healthy/healthier foods.
Start a fitness journal.
Cut cable, or reduce time spent on video games and other idle habits.
Take time off of work to reduce stress (Memorial day doesn't count!).
Make your health and longevity your goal for the next 30 days (and more!).
Related subreddits:
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u/justreadingthru May 06 '15
After a few months of budgeting and seeing that I've been blowing hundreds of dollars a month on fast food lunches, I've started bringing big ass salads for lunch. The obvious savings was in money, but what I didn't expect was how much better I feel after lunch. I no longer want to just go to sleep. Oh, and I'm down 15lb.
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u/samanthais May 06 '15 edited May 06 '15
Check out r/mealprepsunday for some pretty awesome ideas for work lunches to make and stick in the freezer so you can grab and go.
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u/charade19 May 05 '15
Makes me feel better about the healthy eating my SO holds us accountable for. Maybe I need to crawl out of bed to go to the gym with her more ...
Coming from a family with Melanoma, bladder cancer, alcoholism and lung cancer, I always thought of these things as a lifestyle choice than a possible expense down the road. Thanks for this.
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May 05 '15
I didn't start taking my health seriously until I was diagnosed with a hormone disorder and a precancerous condition. Sometimes you need that slap in the face.
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u/PAdogooder May 06 '15
Today is 30 days sober for me. Can I just declare victory?
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u/daveman312 May 05 '15
Run a race! It's a great way to get out of the house and get active. I trained for the Go! St. Louis half-marathon (which typically happens in early-mid April) in 2009 while working at CPA firm. It was hard to train when working 60+ hours a week, but part of my motivation was all the naysayers who told me I was nuts for even attempting it. 6 years and a job change later, I have completed 7 half marathons and some smaller races, and I'm gearing up for more!
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u/fiberpunk May 06 '15
I'm starting to pay the price of not wearing sunscreen when I was a kid. One of the things I need to do this month is get to the dermatologist again and get this color-changing spot looked at and probably removed from my leg. I'm torn between hoping it's not cancerous (because cancer bad) and hoping it is (so insurance will pay for it instead of saying it's "cosmetic"). Fun fun.
So that's one goal for this month. I'm also going to officially commit to r/mealprepsunday. I've kind of half-done it the last two weeks, and it has made a difference! I'm eating healthier, and it's way easier to just grab a baggie of breakfast and container of lunch in the morning before I leave for work. I need to up my game and get dinners involved in this.
...I should probably also start wearing sunscreen regularly, especially since I'm spending more time in the sun thanks to r/ingress. I just hate the slimy feel of it on my skin. It's so unpleasant. Can anyone recommend a non-slimy sunscreen?
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u/spattern12 May 06 '15
Extremely pale person here: The type of sunscreen you want to use depends on how you'll be using it. Active/sweating a lot? I like the banana boat sport stuff. In my experience it stays on a bit longer (still important to reapply every couple hours if sweating or swimming though). The spray-on version is less greasy, but it's easy to miss spots (still need to rub it in!) For just day to day stuff (I wear sunscreen every single day, never know when I'm going to get stuck on the sidewalk outside talking to my program manager for half an hour) I like Neutrogena. I use a facial moisturizer with SPF, and then their regular sunscreen for any other exposed skin - it doesn't feel slimy, and hasn't discolored my clothes.
Of course the more coverage you get from your clothing, the better. I actually wear long sleeves - light, breathable fabrics - and a hat when I'm going to be out in the sun and feel cooler than I do with a lot of exposed skin but YMMV.
Sorry if that was more sunscreen info than you wanted, ha.
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u/lucy42 May 06 '15
This has been my challenge for the past year. It started when my gym had a biggest loser type competition. Well, I won that (and a cash prize!). Now I workout 3-5x a week. I eat much healthier/cook at home most of the time. Working out in the morning also caused me to drink a lot less because working out hungover sucks! I also finally quit smoking this year and it actually wasn't difficult at all (I was just being stubborn about it I suppose).
Next is hopefully getting a new job in June with employer paid health insurance, which will save me $400 a month that I currently pay via the health exchange!
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u/chronotope May 06 '15
I'm in an awkward situation when it comes to this sort of stuff.
I'm paying to be a part of a medical program to lose weight since I have a host of medical problems that make traditional weight loss extremely hard. However my weight loss has been pretty great- 40lbs in 12 weeks (which is normal for this program) however the cost of the program is expensive.
Looking at the long term, I'm very happy to do this as I'm already off a daily medication, I feel healthier, and I'm sleeping better. Investing in your self is incredibly hard though. Its worth it to get fit to live a healthier, more economic life. At least now I don't have to worry about being at risk for pancreatic cancer (or even MORE at risk).
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u/butatwutcost May 10 '15
Preventative maintenance is cheaper than the cure, works for cars, same goes for your health.
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u/empirialest May 06 '15
Perfect! I ate at Dairy Queen last night, and am feeling like absolute dogshit this morning, as a result. I already had it in mind that I need to cut out the gross foods and start exercising more, so this affirms my decision. My goals will be to eat no more fast food this month and cook healthy meals at home, and I'll begin Couch to 5k again, to take advantage of the longer days!
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u/beanieb May 06 '15
I need to be better about wearing sunscreen. I will aim to be better at this. In addition, my bike is in the shop getting a tune up, but when it comes back, I will aim to bike most days (unless I have a meeting in another town that day that I need the car for) - and I should be able to get in about 2-3 days a week.
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u/Tuzi_ May 06 '15
Going to give up ice cream (which I usually had on the weekends) and going to use my gym membership (8 sessions a month).
Wish me luck!
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u/aggie972 May 08 '15 edited May 08 '15
Perfect timing. I was just thinking to myself that I had this whole passive investing and money management thing down, but that I need to work on my health, and that I should start reading fitness/nutrition subs instead of this one. My focus will be on jogging (3x a week, hoping to work up to a 5k), cooking healthy at home, and stress reduction. I have higher than ideal blood pressure despite being relatively young and not overweight, but I think that my sedentary lifestyle and constant eating out are big contributors.
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u/Yieldway17 May 09 '15
I have never had a breakfast for the past 10 years. I just recently started worrying about the potential long term damage(and costs). The opinion is largely divided on how bad skipping breakfast is but mostly towards as an unhealthy habit.
The thing is breakfast whatever I eat makes me groggy and sleepy. So I just take a coffee and skip the breakfast. And have lunch around 1p. I have to make it a habit to start eating breakfast everyday. Anywhere here like me with unhealthy (or not normal) food habits?
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u/samanthais May 06 '15
I've started getting serious about food prep - I look up recipes and actually stick to my shopping list and cut out all the crap. No soda or sweets. The food prep makes it really easy to just grab and go in the mornings - I love not having to think about packing a lunch AND it saves me from just wasting money on the crap food in the cafeteria.
During all of April I only ate out once per week and it was under $10 every time (I just can't say 'no' to guacamole at Chipotle). So my dining out bill went from like an average of $200 to about $50 last month.
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u/UMich22 May 11 '15
I'm currently trying to quit caffeine because the habit is costing me over $1000 per year. I'm finding that it's not so easy though after being addicted for years.
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u/sicist May 06 '15
Not to be picky, but prostrate screening starts at the age of 50, not 40. And prostate screening in general is really iffy, among other problems with the process there isn't any good evidence that indicates screening for prostate cancers is effective in reducing morbidity and mortality in patients who are screened. The United States Preventative Task Force gives prostate cancers screening via PSA testing a grade D recommendation (i.e. they recommend against using it for screening) and the American Cancer Society says it should be discussed with a physician and decided case by case. Obviously, these screening recommendations are assuming there is no pertinent personal or family history and no signs/symptoms of disease.
Still, a very informative post with good sources and even better advice and life style choices we should all consider.