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Higher Life Satisfaction Is Associated With Fewer Doctor Visits


t-pain

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http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/early/2013/12/11/PSY.0000000000000024.abstract?sid=7ac308a0-4af4-4154-b9e6-53bea906cf73

 

 

Methods Participants were 6379 adults from the Health and Retirement Study, a prospective and nationally representative panel study of American adults older than 50 years. Participants were tracked for 4 years. We analyzed the data using a generalized linear model with a gamma distribution and log link.

Results Higher life satisfaction was associated with fewer doctor visits.

 

dont go see the doctor , feel better.

 

works for me! i feel terrible talking to doctors. all they talk about is horrible bunny muffin.

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I'm terribly unimpressed with this article.

 

The reader needs to, first, realize that when the author states that there is an association between happiness and the number of Dr. visits, that said association isn't necessarily a cause.  Huge difference between an association and a cause.  It is well-documented that tobacco users are more likely to smoke MJ and that MJ smokers are more likely to use tobacco.  So here we identify an association.... that increased MJ use is associated with increased tobacco use...but there is no cause established....MJ use doesn't cause tobacco use, and tobacco use doesn't cause MJ use.

 

This goes hand-in-hand with the "gateway drug" BS we've heard for years......with anti MJ groups concluding that because MJ use is associated with harder drug use and that somehow MJ use causes harder drug use.

 

What exactly did they gain from this study?  Someone (probably "we" via grant money) paid these people to determine that there is an association between reduced Dr. visits and overall happiness.  But they didn't establish a cause; they didn't conclude that fewer Dr. visits cause increased happiness.  What we learned is that people who have a reduced need for medical care are, on average, happier.  Isn't this something we already knew?

 

I guess, what this comes down is is that it would be a real shame if a person read this thread and decided to quit seeing a Dr. because they felt they'd be happier in the end.

 

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Let's be clear.  Your statement "dont go see the doctor , feel better." is not at all supported by this article.  This might be your own personal experience, but this conclusion is not supported by the evidence you posted.  There is nothing in this study to support that avoiding Dr.'s generates happiness. 

Edited by Highlander
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