Teach to the Test: A Modest Proposal for Your Well-being by Marilynn Preston on Creators.com

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Teach to the Test: A Modest Proposal for Your Well-being

People who want to drive know they first have to pass the official government-run driving test. Every state has one. No one complains. We all know that driving a car is a big responsibility, and we take crashing seriously.

So we prepare for the test. We study the book, memorize the signs, and practice how to steer, turn, park and pass. It takes hours and hours to learn to drive, but we do it because if we don't pass the test, we can't drive a car.

So here's my cost-saving brainstorm: Let's insist that everyone who applies for health insurance must take a wellness test. Staying healthy and living a happy, balanced, fit life is a big responsibility. Even Hillary Clinton hasn't mastered it yet. There ought to be a written and practical exam required — just like the driver's test — that shows you've studied, you've practiced, and you know what you're doing when it comes to your well-being.

You've learned, for example, how to fit a 30-minute workout into every day.

You've studied the difference between proteins, carbs and fats and learned that it is protein, not doughnuts, that your body needs when it wakes up in the morning.

You've demonstrated a deep understanding of the value of sleep, rest and disconnecting from technology from time to time.

If you fail the National Wellness Test, you still get health insurance ... but you have to pay a higher premium. And you have to go to the gym equivalent of driver's ed or traffic school, where you can further your studies of anatomy, nutrition and yoga, using gym classes paid for by your insurance company.

I'm not saying it would be a hard exam. Oh, no. I want everyone to pass. It would be a mix of multiple choice and essay questions, along the lines of:

— Compare and contrast factory-made red meat (aka pink slime) and organic veggie burgers.

— Name three ways to prepare kale in a way you'll actually eat it.

— Come up with three scientific reasons why eating processed food makes you sick, fat and addicted to eating more processed food.

Information about the life-improving benefits of eating well and exercising more is all out there, but how do we get ordinary overstressed citizens to take the time to learn it? Require them to pass a wellness test.

Do you think people were born wanting to know how many feet you have to stay behind the car in front of you when traveling 60 mph?

A National Wellness Test would be based on fascinating new research that shows that the more informed consumers of health care are, the better care they take of themselves, and the healthier they are.

Because what we really need to lower the cost and improve the quality of medical care in this country are smarter, better informed patients.

Studying to pass your National Wellness Test will teach you how to profoundly reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

It will empower you to team up with your doctor, instead of blindly accepting whatever he tells you in your allotted 5.2 minutes per visit.

It will prepare you to become a partner in your health care, to actively engage in discovering what is causing the problem and what can be done to stop it or make it better.

And finally, having to pass a test will help put a dent in the epidemic of drug-taking that's going on in doctor's offices these days. Because the National Wellness Test will teach you to ask questions about the nasty side effects of certain drugs, and discuss which alternative therapies — acupuncture, body work, mindfulness training, etc. — might be just as effective.

Teach to the test, I say, and health care costs will go down. But it's just a dream of mine. There is no National Wellness Test, and requiring one is about as likely as convincing Sarah Palin to open a moose sanctuary.

So that leaves the ball back in your court. It's your responsibility to study, to learn, to thrive. Ignorance about how to stay strong and healthy isn't bliss, it's expensive, and it's heartbreaking.

And in your lifetime, you only get the one car.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! THIS STANDS THE TEST OF TIME

"This is your life. You are responsible for it. You will not live forever. Don't wait." — Natalie Goldberg

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, well-being coach and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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