Image credit Thomas_H_photo, used via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0 licence |
by Gaia Cantelli, PhD
You have just woken up. You check your phone and have a look at the news. What do you see? Most days, a key headline will have something to do with science – and with good reason. We live in what many consider a golden age of discovery. Science is making advances we never thought possible and is helping us work out problems we never thought could be solved. We can look for water in outer space, use light-activated nanoparticles to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria and use drugs to correct errors in our DNA to fend off deadly genetic diseases.
You have just woken up. You check your phone and have a look at the news. What do you see? Most days, a key headline will have something to do with science – and with good reason. We live in what many consider a golden age of discovery. Science is making advances we never thought possible and is helping us work out problems we never thought could be solved. We can look for water in outer space, use light-activated nanoparticles to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria and use drugs to correct errors in our DNA to fend off deadly genetic diseases.
However, that’s only one side of
the coin. At least half of the science news seems to be
urgently pointing at a new problem. Just over the past few weeks, even the most
casual news-readers could have found themselves worrying about involuntarily
increasing their risk of getting breast
or lung
cancer by doing apparently healthy things like going outside and taking
vitamins. You may have been stressing about compromising your heart’s health by
sitting too much or being
too tall. And that’s before you’ve even gotten out of bed!
So how can you use science to
make more informed decisions? Here are a few pointers to empower you to make a
change.
1. Make
sure you listen to trustworthy voices
Naturally, if
you are going to make changes in your life based on science, you need to make
sure you have reliable scientific information. Making sure you only consider
reliable sources and you thoroughly familiarise yourself with the subject
matter at hand are some of the key steps you can take to make sure you are
getting the best information available out there. For more tips, make sure to
check out the previous post in this series: Do
your research! Six ways to find science you can trust online.
2. Use
science to solve your problems, not to create more
Image credit A Healthier Michigan, used via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0 licence |
A common problem
for scientists and non-scientists alike is that science news seems to highlight more
problems than solutions. Having read an article about the increased risk of
some disease, it’s easy to find yourself checking out an endless list of
symptoms.
The solution is
simple: don’t try to fix new problems in your life suggested by articles you
read online, but look for science answers to problems you already know you have.
Start with a well-defined question and start looking for your answers there. Are you unhappy with your diet? Research
what nutritionists recommend for people in your same situation. Do you have a family history of cancer and
what to know how to protect yourself from that diagnosis? You can
concentrate on cancer prevention initiatives and understanding how to pre-empt developing the disease.
Of course, it’s
impossible to completely ignore all the new information you come across every
day, even when it is not immediately relevant to your goals. Sure, you are really concentrating on how to eat healthier, but
should you be worrying about developing early-onset eye cataracts as well?
Try to keep things in perspective and ask yourself: Does this apply to me? Is this going to improve my quality of life or
is it just creating a new problem I have to solve? It’s OK, even important
to disregard issues that you feel are not relevant in your situation!
3. Don’t
fall for the fads of the moment
Reading science
news, it often feels like we are just trying to play catch-up with the latest
fads. First, wine is good for you.
Then, wine
is bad for you. How are you meant to keep track? Are you supposed to stock
up on bottles of vino or throw them all out in the trash? Don’t
directly follow the advice of every single fashionable new study out there, no
matter how eye-catching it is. Instead, look for more established pieces of
science that have been corroborated by studies though a period of
several years. Science is not a perfect process and usually scientists need to
debate new ideas and test them thoroughly before they can be
confident with their conclusions. Make sure you don’t get caught up in the
trends of the moment by looking at the big picture!
4. Remember
to use common sense!
Navigating
through an ocean of scientific perspectives and disagreeing experts can be very
challenging. Luckily, we have all been bestowed with a powerful tool to help us
find a healthy balance: common sense. If after doing your research you find
yourself considering a change in your life that goes against common sense, stop
for a moment and think. Are you
considering a diet that clearly does not have enough food in it to keep you
fed? Are you looking into an expensive experimental treatment for something
that should be cleared up with over-the-counter medication?
If you are still
at odds with yourself, the best thing to do is to ask an expert – especially if
you are considering something that could seriously affect your health and
well-being. Make sure you understand the science behind your new resolution and
if you feel it is at odds with common sense make sure you understand how
science can reconcile the two.
5. Focus
on a few key changes
Image credit: Dr Abdullah Naser, used via Flickr CC BY 2.0 |
Constantly
changing how you eat, exercise, rest and work based on the latest scientific
findings is no way to live. “Living better” can become an obsession and,
paradoxically, actually lower your quality of life by stressing you out and
dispersing your focus. Identify a few key areas of your life you feel you need
to work on and focus on those. However, if you do find a way to use science to
improve your day-to-day life, make sure you stick with it! Constantly changing
your focus from new diets to vitamin supplements to new experimental tests to
new forms of exercise is not going to help you solve your problems – and in
fact is definitely going to make them worse. Sticking with a single option that
you are confident is backed by science and resisting the temptation to switch
to new “miracle cures” is the only thing that is going to give you results in
the long run.
Gaia Cantelli is a postdoctoral associate at Duke University, studying the mechanisms that regulate cancer cell metastasis to the bone and she regularly blogs over at scienceblog.com.
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