Fitness and Health

A study released in August of last year by the Kaiser Family Foundation claims that 3.4 million Part D enrollees including many with serious medical conditions reached the Coverage Gap (Donut Hole) causing them to face the full cost of their prescription drugs. Of those beneficiaries sadly many never made it to Catastrophic Coverage, in fact far too many enrollees never got coverage because they simply could not afford to continue on their drug regimen and stay compliant with their medications.

Drinking water is a great way to better your health, and such a simple thing yet more and more Americans reach for soda instead of water. Soda has more sugar than the dietary recommendation in a week than what you drink in just one serving of soda; where as water is free of sugar and actually benefits the body. 75 percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated which is the number 1 trigger of daytime fatigue. Drinking water reduces your rick of breast cancer, colon cancer, and joint pain all by more than 50 percent. Unfortunately many of our water sources are contaminated with lead, radiation, and bacteria, so please make sure the water you are drinking is purified.

Social Service Coordinators Golden Touch program is a social advocacy program designed to assist with enrolling into programs for which you may be eligible at little to no cost, as SSC has a data base of over 7,000 public and or privately sponsored programs nationwide. Some programs for example include energy, telephone, transportation, property tax, and food help. There is also co payment assistance programs, and as previously mentioned, different pharmacy assistance programs- over 200 programs.

One of the most important changes does not necessarily come from any program however, but from a desire for change. When you make a conscious decision about the choices you make pertaining to what you eat, whether you exercise, how much you sleep, or where you choose to live and work, all these choices are yours to make, for the betterment of your health or for ill. When you choose to make healthy decisions throughout your entire lifestyle you will notice your body has more energy and responds to healthier choices.

So how would you change from poor health choices to healthy ones? Let me give you an example: The stress of a person's job can certainly be a cause and effect habit; I know of a co-worker that instead of coming home after a stressful day of work and "zone out" in front of the TV, he chooses to go to the gym instead. This is not only a lifestyle choice but will have a healthy result.

They say you are what you eat, how about you are who you hang out with? Friends can make the difference between whether you succeed or fail by the way they enhance your life or not. If you hang out with people who provide support, acceptance, and love you are more likely to have a positive out-look on life and move in more positive directions; if on the other hand you have friends that make you feel consistently exhausted or stressed-out after spending time with them, then your friendship might just be diminishing your health and shortening the positive opportunities that could have come your way in more positive circumstances. Choose people to surround your life who embrace you and support positive changes you want to make in your life.

Now is the time to take care of your health, don't wait until you are in need of medical help to find out what you may or may not be covered. Some of the best health care is preventive care, take time out of your schedule to plan a lifestyle that complements living healthy and you're sure to feel the benefits long into your senior years.