The best predictor of health

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
John Muir
1838 – 1914

I want you to go through a thought experiment with me. What do you think is the best predictor of your overall health?

Your health care providers (your doctor, nurses, pharmacist)
Your genes (the physical conditions you inherited from your parents)
Your zip or postal code

I’m willing to bet that most people selected the incorrect answer. In his book, Discovering Precision Health, Dr. Lloyd Minor, Dean of the Stanford School of Medicine, states clinical care accounts for only 10% of our health outcomes. Genetics and biology account for 20%, while behavioral factors account for 30% and environmental and social factors account for 40%.

Where you live – your zip code – is an important indicator of your environmental and social factors.

First, let’s define what we mean when we talk about our environment. It is the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. It includes your home, your workplace, your friends and family, and the media you consume. Since the environment is all around us, it’s like background noise: we tend not to notice or pay attention to it. But it has a huge impact on our mental and physical health.

I’ve worked with hundreds of people who are seeking to change some part of their lives. They’ll devote lots of time and resources to making the changes permanent but often overlook the need to change their environment. And their efforts often fail.

If you want to lose weight and you don’t make any changes to your environment, losing weight will be harder to do and will almost certainly be temporary. Change the foods you keep in the house. Hang out with people focused on healthy living. Change where you dine out.

If you want to better yourself, to improve your finances or your education, hanging out with the same group of friends will probably hold you back.

If you want more serenity in your life, continuing to work in a hostile environment or living in a dysfunctional home will be counterproductive. Likewise, you may find that you need to limit your exposure to the news or to social media.

You probably can’t change your zip code. But you can choose to alter parts of your environment that are working against you.

Whatever change you want to make in your life, start by deciding what to fix in your environment.

There is no question that the objects that surround us impact our experience of the world.
Katherine Center
1948 –