I worked for many years in the health care field, taking care of adults with chronic diseases. From what I saw, I don't think that the patients thought that they would end up with the results they did; smoking "looks cool" when you are young but when you are lying in a hospital bed and every move you make simply exhausts you because your lungs can not provide an adequate amount of oxygen, smoking is not such a good idea. When the person that has uncontrolled diabetes comes in for their second amputation, none of the excesses seem worth it. I believe that if people knew what the reality of chronic diseases look like then we would change our behaviors. The portrayal of chronic disease in media is just not accurate; the COPD medication commercials show us a very stylized version of someone with the disease. Understanding the long term effects, on such a visceral level, helped me understand chronic diseases and how my daily habits affect how I will live in my advanced years. I think it is easy to get caught up in the hustle of day to day activities and forget that every choice we make decides our health for the future. We are not a society that thinks in these terms but it might be more beneficial if we did.
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