I think another important question is what would you do to prevent Alzheimer's, not just how much would you spend. Like, would you exercise? Would you eat a healthy diet of fruits and veg every day? Would you tend to your sleep? Would you get outdoors? Would you try new and difficult things to keep your brain active?
People might work longer, disrupting their lives and plans, but we don't seem willing to live a lifestyle that will protect from disease.
BTW, estrogen loss at menopause causes heart disease, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's.
Agree. I find most people would not do anything in your first paragraph(not in the context of Alzheimers's, specifically, but health in general). Sadly, the norm is to be unwilling to change behavior at all to improve ones situation, whether it be financial or health related. If it can't be fixed with a pill, it won't happen for most.
Kind of off topic but kind of not, my mom was experiencing bone density loss and was on meds for it. After some years, she started following a pretty simple resistance training regimen at home that I helped her with. Not only did she slow down or stop the bone loss, but her bone density began increasing. At the age of 70, she can do 20 full pushups from her toes(as in not from the knees, although she did as she worked her way up)
As someone who spent years helping patients modify their daily health habits, I would say it's a little more nuanced than you're describing.
Most patients actually care pretty deeply about their health and are theoretically willing to do just about anything if they have a good grasp of their actual ability to influence their outcomes.
Instead, what they end up hearing is "blah, blah, blah, unrealistic expectations of ideal behaviour, blah, blah, blah, no one actually does this, blah, blah, blah, there is a pill you can take." Whether that's a fair representation of what their doctor actually said is a whole other issue, but that's what a lot of them hear.
Some will brush everything off with a cavalier "fuck it, just give me a pill/surgery/etc" attitude, but they're often, surprisingly the easiest to reach and the most willing to change if you can crack their hard candy coating. If they're that defiant, then it's usually because they're scared. Ironically, the hardest people to motivate are the ones who easily agree to do what you ask, because they're just people pleasers and the next person who demands their resources will get them.
I personally had a lot more success motivating my patients to change their behaviour than my colleagues did, but that's because I went out of my way to do courses in motivational interviewing and behavioural modification.
Go figure! Getting people to behave differently is a learnable skill, just like surgery. And yet, medical systems are specifically set up in a way that makes this kind of intervention less probable.
ETA: most people aren't actually stupid and lazy, contrary to popular opinion. Most people have just never been effectively motivated, have felt realistically empowered to govern their own physical outcomes, and always just been made to feel shame, which is a very, very poor behaviour improvement motivator.
Are there any general tips to improve motivation in these or similar situations (other than don't use shame)?
Understand stages of readiness for change and work with people where they are in those stages. But first, always earn their trust. This is also a learnable skill.
Lol. I have shamed plenty of people, but only once I've earned their trust and know that they're ready to hear it. That doesn't have to take long, usually I could get there with most people in about 5-30 minutes.
I approached everyone with a deep sense of respect for their autonomy and authority over their own bodies. I also operated from the assumption that they cared deeply about their health and well being, even if their behaviour didn't reflect that.
I would often flat out say "I'm going to assume your issues have developed not because you don't care, or are lazy, but because there's just always been something in the way of you being able to take really good care of yourself. Sound about right?"
If I treat someone with respect, and earn their trust, then paradoxically, I can say outright rude shit and have it taken really well AND have it increase their trust in me and take the message more seriously.
Patients are so used to medical staff being cruel and dismissive while sounding so polite, so I hit them hard with the opposite by showing genuine respect while saying crazy shit, so they know I'm for real.
My staff had a collection of "shit Dr. Malcat says" that they would quote back to me like "You're 28, it's time to grow the fuck up" and "Dude, face it, you're gross" and my favourite "No big deal, you'll just die a lot younger and make me a lot richer."
Think about how respected someone has to feel in order to take comments like that well. In clinical counselling we call it unconditional positive regard. No matter what criticism I'm directing at them, it's coming from a place where I will never think poorly of them as a person. I'm on their side. I'm like a sports coach who is criticizing their form *because* I respect them as an athlete. I'm on *their* team. I work for *them*.
Lol, I had one young male patient come back and say with a laugh that after meeting me the first time, he sat in his car for awhile and contemplated how he was failing himself as a human being. I had given him more respect than he usually gave himself.
And THAT is the major crux of people not prioritizing their health. Most people in today's society lack A LOT of dignity and self respect.
You take care of the things you value. How can we expect people to take care of themselves when their self worth is shit?
