Making the most of positive unintended consequences
You decide to become vegan to help prevent the diseases strongly associated with red meat. As a result, your blood pressure and lousy LDL cholesterol levels become much healthier. Or you plant a vegetable garden to save on food costs and being in nature and getting physical activity transforms your mood, making you less anxious.
Positive unintended consequences can change individual lives and the life of a country. Take Medicare. When it was born on July 30, 1965 (Happy 60th!), it transformed access to health care and the health of people ages 65 and older. (Average life expectancy in the U.S. rose from 70-ish in 1965 to around 79 in 2025.) And it made it so everyone can take more personal responsibility for healthy aging, and so friends and neighbors can support one another (in discount/free gym classes, for example). Then all can achieve a younger, happier older age.
Medicare services that help create a healthier ActualAge include a Medicare diabetes prevention program (65 million seniors have prediabetes!), obesity behavioral therapy (40% of folks age 60 and older are obese), and medical nutrition therapy (less than half of adults 65 and older get the recommended five servings of fruits and veggies daily -- and I say you should aim for seven to nine).
And if most seniors were to take charge of their health -- and take advantage of the support offered by Medicare -- individual lives would blossom and health care spending could be reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars annually, keeping you and Medicare running at full steam for years to come.
Health pioneer Michael Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer emeritus at the Cleveland Clinic and author of four No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. Check out his latest, "The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow," and find out more at www.longevityplaybook.com. Email your health and wellness questions to Dr. Mike at questions@longevityplaybook.com.
(c)2023 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
(c) 2025 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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