DOCTOR SAYS FUN LIFESTYLES GOOD FOR HEALTH

A fun-filled, pleasurable lifestyle may go a lot further in preventing illness than all the low-fat, aerobically-correct regimes in the world, says Dr. David Sobel.

Sobel, the regional director of patient education and health promotion for the Kaiser Permanente Medical Program in northern California, spoke Thursday night at St. Francis Medical Center's annual banquet about healthy pleasures.

People who know how to enjoy life tend to live longer, healthier lives, Sobel said.

The healthiest people, he said, are "pleasure-loving, pleasure seeking, pleasure-creating people.

"One of the most interesting aspects is they don't fuss and they don't obsess about their health," he said.

When Sobel began his research on how pleasure impacts health, he said, his first question was, "What can we learn from the heartiest, healthiest, most vital people we know?"

The answers, he said, will surprise the "fitness fanatics, dietary fascists and others who believe that the only to promote health is through rigid self-denial."

Sobel said health care experts need to begin looking at a "pleasure prescription" as a key to helping their patients. The cornerstones of that prescription, he said, are sensuality, optimism and altruism.

The pleasure prescription, Sobel said, is "filled in the internal pharmacy of the brain itself. When people feel good and they're in a good positive mood, they get not only the pleasure of feeling good, there's also scientific proof of improved health."

There is a widespread perception, he said, that "anything that feels good has got to be bad for you, or at least fattening or contagious."

Research shows the stress of divorce creates the same coronary risk as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, he said.

Studies also show that pet owners have recurring coronary episodes at one-fifth the rate of people who don't own pets, and depression in coronary patients is a better predictor of future episodes than dietary or exercise factors.

What are healthy habits? Taking a nap during the day, gentle, enjoyable exercise, forming strong relationships with people and pets and learning to enjoy the senses, Sobel said.

Also Thursday night, long-time volunteer Opal Perkins was named the recipient of the Courageous Patient Award. Perkins lost a leg earlier this year to a serious illness.

"But through her spirit, courage and determination she has bounced back with amazing resiliency," said John L. Fidler, president and CEO of St. Francis Medical Center. "While she was a patient, she was an inspiration to every employee who either worked with her or visited her. Surely, her positive approach to life, even in the face of severe illness, was key to her recovery."

The award honors a present or former patient who exhibits extraordinary spirit and determination in overcoming illness or injury.