Dying to get fit: how our obsession with health and fitness is harming us
IN the last few years I have given up on the many medical measures – cancer screenings, annual exams, Pap smears, for example – expected of a responsible person with health insurance. This was not based on any suicidal impulse. It was barely even a decision, more like an accumulation of micro-decisions: to meet a deadline or show up at the primary care office and submit to the latest test to gauge my biological sustainability; to spend the afternoon in the faux-cozy corporate environment of a medical facility or go for a walk.
