“So many patients just accept it as part of getting older. It doesn’t have to be an inevitability.”

As a Senior Editor at BuzzFeed, I cover lifestyle topics including books, work and money, health, and home.

"I met a patient one time in his early 40s that had a stroke and was left with one-sided weakness and walked with a cane after a chiropractic neck adjustment. He said the neck crack was 'a good one,' and he saw stars after it. A week later, he felt like he was hit by a bolt of lightning while brushing his teeth one morning and couldn't move one side of his body. Turns out the neck adjustment caused a micro tear in one of his vertebral arteries that eventually threw a clot into his brain."

"I work in neurology. The number of completely healthy 20- and 30-somethings we see come in with massive strokes from vertebral artery dissections right after a neck adjustment is terrifying."

"We literally had a patient light themselves on fire at one of my clinical sites when I was a student. They lit up a cigarette while on high-flow oxygen."

"I love my Loops!! I had a summer where I went to four general admission shows and knew I would need them. Amazing how they drown out the crowd and not the musicians."

"I don't remember who said it, but this one music buff once said using earplugs at concerts is the equivalent of practicing safe sex for your hearing."

"ICU nurse here. There are plenty of horrific ways to die, some more than others. To me, liver failure is one of them. Easily in my Top 10 of worst ways to go, probably even Top 5 if we’re talking about 'general' disease processes overall and not freak accidents/outliers."

"I worked in a skilled nursing facility and had lots of interactions with people who essentially drank themselves to death. Working at an ambulatory surgery center now, and I’ve genuinely had people hooked up and ready to go for surgery and going through the discharge instructions with them, and I’ve had people straight up cancel themselves and walk out because I tell them they can not drink alcohol for the next 24 hours. TWENTY FOUR. That’s it, and they literally get up and leave and say they won’t be doing that. Absolutely crazy."

"I could've picked a lot of other fields that would've made more money or prestige, but I'm not here for that. I would've had to give up the things that make me who I am, and the regret I see in my patients' eyes when they talk about how that happened to them is reminder enough that I should be very, very grateful."

"Yes, we focus too much on only treating stuff as it arises. But it still has to be done. Every other nurse and doctor I work with says they wish we focused more on preventative care. This is the system with have to work with right now.

Also, with the rise of social media, health influencers act like diet and exercise are a secret treatment for everything that doctors don’t want you to know because they want to get rich treating you or something. Folks, the medical community has always recommended a healthy diet and exercise for literal decades. It’s not some new trend or fad or something. Eat well and do some form of exercise, and you’ll stay relatively healthy. Social media is so manipulative."

"Also, go see your orthopedic provider when you start having joint pain instead of letting it go on for years (if you can, American healthcare is a capitalist hellscape). There are interventions that are less invasive than a total joint replacement that can be an option as long as your body hasn’t sustained too much damage from trying to power through."

"I work for a town that has two brain injury facilities. 98% of the patients I transport out of there were admitted due to anoxic brain injuries, which were due to either a motorcycle crash or a heroin overdose. Anytime a new firefighter buys a motorcycle, I tell them that I'll see them at the brain injury facility!"

"My 75-year-old mother has fallen twice in the past month due to her large dogs. Once, because she fell into a hole that was dug, and the second time, her 100-pound dog, which was never trained, pulled her down the steps leading outside. She was lucky to get away with a black eye and cracked ribs this time."

He was diagnosed in his early 30s and dead by 40."

"Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to address other medical issues, obviously. That said, you absolutely should be doing something to stay strong and mobile. If you ever need to recover from a complex medical issue, surgery, or unforeseen setback, having physical capability vastly improves your ability to recover/maintain a high quality of life.

If nothing else, I exercise to stay strong and able-bodied. I slacked for a bit during college and early med school, but after seeing the writing on the wall if I continued that, my attitude completely changed. Use your body! (Safely and reasonably)."

"After doing inpatient medicine for 10 years, I can safely say I will never stop lifting weights. Muscle mass (I’m not talking body builder, I’m talking just basic resistance training and core strength) is probably one of the best indicators of how someone will do long term, whether it’s through chemo treatments, a bad infection, cardiac issues, whatever is leading to a hospitalization.

The bounce back is crazy better in patients who do some sort of resistance training and significantly lowers their need for skilled nursing facilities, prolonged physical therapy, etc."

"People think the flu only kills the elderly. One bad year and one bad strain is all it takes for that to no longer apply.

It’s a pretty normal health habit to not bother getting the flu vaccine if you aren’t old or disabled, but you always should if you can!"

"I always say that adult men's softball is the most dangerous sport in the world. Take a bunch of 30-40-year-olds that used to be good, don't warm up properly, swing, aka ROTATE, as fast as possible to hit something, then SPRINT to first base."

"I'm not saying everybody should be a hedonist and not take care of their health at all, but living healthy is no guarantee for a long, healthy life. Take it easy sometimes and drink that beer you crave on the first warm day of summer. It's okay."