Authors

  1. Donnelly, Gloria Ferraro PhD, RN, FAAN

Article Content

Half the world is starving and the other half is "pigging out", which is leading to devastating global health outcomes. In 2000, the top 2 contributors to global mortality were childhood and maternal malnutrition-with a loss of life of 200 million years-and high blood pressure, cholesterol, overweight, and low physical activity-with a loss of life of 150 million years.1

  
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The drivers of this enormous loss of life are poverty in the case of maternal and childhood malnutrition and overconsumption and denial in the case of high blood pressure and related factors. These findings are illustrative of the economic and social demographics of the world today: the shared, negative result of those with very little and those with abundant resources. What can be done?

 

At both the personal and professional levels, we can do something about high blood pressure and cholesterol, overweight, and lack of physical activity. We can take self-responsibility for our own behavior and lifestyles, become proactive in our pursuit of wellness and fitness, and encourage and support our patients and clients to do the same. Two of the features in this issue explore the need for commitment and discipline in the pursuit of health. In HNP's new Innovations feature, an interview with 2 personal trainers, who have a unique business philosophy, highlights the need for a combined approach of discipline and support in the pursuit of holistic fitness. HNP's feature on herbals and nutritional supplements explores the holistic route to having a 'healthy heart,' a metaphor for living a healthy lifestyle.

 

In this age of the genome, it is easier to be fatalistic about health and behavior. However, the evidence is overwhelming that behavior and lifestyle changes can add healthy, productive years to individuals despite their genetic profiles. If half of the 2.5 million nurses in the United States made the commitment to a healthier lifestyle, how many thousands of years of life would be saved?

 

In his presidential address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, John P. Holdren enumerated the 3 pillars of upon which human well-being rests and for which society and individuals are responsible.2 They are economic conditions and processes, which underpin the generation of work, production, income, and the enabling technologies; sociopolitical conditions and processes, such as accessibility to healthcare, education, security, and justice; and environmental conditions and processes, such as clean air, water, resources, and those natural and manmade processes that affect the environment.

 

Nurses can work diligently at the level of sociopolitical conditions and process by educating themselves, their patients, and the public about the dangers of overconsumption and denial and by encouraging the level of discipline necessary to live life with the "heart" in mind.

 

Gloria Ferraro Donnelly, PhD, RN, FAAN

 

Editor-in-Chief

 

REFERENCES

 

1. World Health Organization. The World Health Report. Geneva: WHO; 2002. [Context Link]

 

2. Holdren JP. Science and technology for sustainable well-being. Science. 2008;319:424-434. [Context Link]