Fwd: Two ways to avoid heartache

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Tue, 16 Sep 2003 00:10:47 -0500

WC Douglass

Two ways to avoid heartache

 

Daily Dose

 

September 16, 2003

 

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Now it's official - exercise really is taxing

 

You all know how I feel about exercise.

 

Not that I have anything against playing sports, moderate

weightlifting, or hiking up a mountain, if that's your thing.

It's just that exercising to extremes simply for the sake of

exercising - or from the misguided belief that it'll benefit

your health - is simply ludicrous.

 

So, in a way, it makes perfect sense that our government may

soon be trying to force us into more of the heart-straining,

joint-murdering lunacy that the exercise-crazy American

mainstream's been embracing for years - while at the same

time getting progressively fatter and less healthy, I might

add.

 

How are they going to do this? By " incentivizing " employers

to offer exercise options as part of employee benefits.

 

That's right: It seems the " Fools on The Hill " are cooking up

a tax incentive bill that would grant a subsidy to any

employer offering membership in a fitness club or similar

organization. Ostensibly designed to promote health (but most

likely aimed at cutting healthcare costs, however wrong-

headedly), this legislation - now before Congress - is

gathering support, and seems likely to pass into law in the

near future.

 

But my questions are these: Would the real-world effect of

this bill actually be to increase health and fitness - or

simply to increase tax revenues from the health clubs whose

membership rolls would soar as a result? Also, wouldn't this

incentive give employers an opportunity to cut corners on

salaries (and raises) by calculating the " value " of the

monthly health-club dues - subsidized by tax dollars,

remember - as part of an employee's total compensation?

 

To me, this sounds like a win-win situation for both big

government and big business. And as is usually the case

with " tax incentives, " ordinary, hard-working employees will

be the losers - both in take-home pay and in health.

 

Especially if they buy into the bull and start exercising

themselves to death simply because the company's paying for

it (instead of paying them more money)!

 

Bottom line: If the government really wanted to use the

country's revenue code to promote health, there'd be a

hefty " lifestyle surtax " for vegetarianism and jogging - and

a nice fat write-off for people who consume beef, eggs, and

fatty fish at least three times weekly.

 

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Ease her blood pressure - and make your life easier at the same

time

 

There's an old truism about how men and women relate. It goes

like this:

 

A man marries a woman hoping that she will never change, and

she does. A woman marries a man hoping that he will change,

and he doesn't.

 

Funny, isn't it?

 

Now, before you accuse me of perpetuating unhealthy

stereotypes, know this: There is research out there showing

that in a typical marriage, the female desires more change

from her partner than does the male. And believe it or not,

this fact of married life is putting some women at risk of

higher blood pressure.

 

According to a recent Reuters online article, new research

shows that during heated arguments between spouses, blood

pressure levels are much more likely to spike - and to spike

higher - in the person looking for his or her partner to

change.

 

And like I said before, the person in that position within a

typical marriage is the woman. (Sorry, it's a fact.)

 

I know what you're thinking - that I'm going to try to

leverage these findings into an argument for wives keeping

their mouths shut instead of nagging husbands about their

shortcomings. But nothing could be farther from the truth

(wink, wink).

 

Seriously, though, I'm bringing this research to your

attention as an appeal to husbands everywhere to bend a

little bit and make a few changes that your wives really

want - so they won't have to suffer spikes in blood pressure

that could end up tragically. Really, do any of you want to

carry around the guilt of knowing that your wife's heart

condition may have been because you never learned to put the

toilet seat down?

 

So listen to her, and make some long-overdue changes, boys.

It's an easy thing to do - and nothing will make her seem

like the girl you married (and hoped would never change) more

than keeping her happy.

 

Never too old to change,

 

William Campbell Douglass II, MD

 

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