House Call: 2020 reflections might help us rediscover the meaning of health

While we’re eager to leave 2020 behind, our health is one of the things we’ll always carry with us. After months of stress, social isolation, concerning news headlines and drastically adapted ways of living, we all are eager for a fresh start.

The new year is naturally a time for reflection, but it also presents an opportunity to reset our habits, intentions and priorities for the year ahead. As we reflect on all the change 2020 has brought, here are a few ways we can refocus on health as we embrace the year ahead.

Remember perspective

After months of going without seeing relatives and friends, of course we can’t wait to be reunited. Still, we can’t let our guards/masks down too soon – that is, before scalable distribution and herd immunity are a reality.

The fact that COVID-19 vaccines are just beginning to be distributed – and will require careful planning and time to be widely available – means testing individuals without symptoms or belief of exposure takes up our limited resources.

Not being able to provide tests to those who need them means cases could continue spreading. It might take time, but if we all balance long-term hope with short-term realities, we will surely get there.

Routine maintenance

Maintaining our health, even when our lives and routines are placed on pause, is critical. Recently, a patient who lives alone mentioned they typically spend holidays with extended family and their young children, but this year, it was decided my patient would just stay home.

Usually, this person would visit the local health club for exercise and the library for intellectual stimulation. With those facilities closed and disrupted holiday plans, this person was to essentially stay at home, socially isolated, and watch TV.

I couldn’t help but empathize with this person who, despite their best intentions to stay physically active and mentally sharp, had a wrench thrown in their routine. More important, it brings up a bigger question: When life takes a detour, what can we do to ensure our health doesn’t take a backseat?

While it’s certainly important to find new ways to stay physically and mentally healthy (for example, doing at-home workouts to stay active and solving puzzles to work the brain), staying on top of routine wellness checkups can help us stay in a healthy rhythm, especially if you – like my patient – have had to modify your usual routines this year.

Further, the mounting stress and disrupted fitness routines we’ve experienced this year can impact our long-term health.

Rest assured, clinics are taking necessary precautions to ensure that annual and regular screenings like mammograms, lab work, stool testing and immunizations can be available.

Remain resilient

Resiliency is a life-long skill that helps us bounce back from challenging situations.

Simple actions and habits can help develop how we react and respond to situations and avoid holding on to negative feelings like stress, which can cause muscle tension and headaches over time.

Practicing “calm” meditations and maintaining a positive outlook is one of the best anecdotes – finding good in every situation can be difficult, but it also can help us keep the big picture in mind while practicing gratitude for what we have today.

The final – and maybe the most difficult – question to answer is how would we be doing a year from now if we kept living like 2020?

Five years from now? As difficult as it is, planning for the worst but hoping for the best doesn’t just help us be prepared for difficult times, it helps us get through them.

This, too, shall pass, and when it does, we all need to be our healthiest so we can take full advantage of all the good times that are still to come.

Dr. Jeff Markin is a family medicine physician practicing at Kaiser Permanente’s Veradale Medical Center.