What Came First, The Chicken Or The Egg?

What came first, the chicken or the egg? That is a question I often ask myself while “taking care of” my cardiac patients. As a nurse, my mind often wanders to the thought of, “what if they had taken better care of themselves years ago”? Now, I know that genetics and family history plays into cardiac disease, but so does obesity, lethargy and an unhealthy lifestyle.

So when my patients that haven’t exercised in years, not even a walk to the end of the driveway, are admitted to the hospital with CHF, MI, STEMI’s, angina, ACS and high lipids, I have to revisit the whole chicken or the egg thing. Did the cardiac disease process interrupt life? Or was life always sedentary, which led to the cardiac syndrome?

I know it could go either way, and in no way am I suggesting that there is only one right answer. What I am suggesting is that we each take a long hard look at our own lifestyles and make conscious efforts to better ourselves and bodies.

We only get one go around, better make it good!