This is a great story about the studies which examine what doctors do or don’t in terms of their own health.

The key idea is that doctors who take care of themselves are more likely to counsel patients to do the same and more likely to be believable. If a doctor can fit exercise in regularly, the patient is left to answer the question: “Why can’t I?”

However, some doctors are masters of reverse psychology. A patient told me a funny story about his visit to his doctor. The doctor was talking about a man who’d been in ahead of him. “He does everything right. Doesn’t smoke. Exercises. Doesn’t drink martinis like we do. Of course, he will live longer than we will.” The patient thought harder, he said, about his habits because the doctor slid in the point about habits and lifespan so neatly.

The story tells you what doctors actually do, including gender differences.

One little secret. Doctors are not very good about finding a doctor for themselves.

The Wall Street Journal

“Doctors readily dispense prescriptions and advice, but what do they do themselves? A number of surveys, polls and questionnaires provide some clues—and some surprises.

“Physicians as a group are leaner, fitter and live longer than average Americans. Male physicians keep their cholesterol and blood pressure lower. Women doctors are more likely to use hormone-replacement therapy than their patients. Doctors are also less likely to have their own primary care physician—and more apt to abuse prescription drugs.

“As a profession, we have not always taken good care of ourselves,” says Edward Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who writes the Mayo stress blog. But doctors who aren’t fit learn their lesson the hard way, he says. There’s a growing awareness that “if one is not psychologically, spiritually and physically fit, one will not go the distance in this profession.”

“What’s more, many studies show that doctors who exercise and watch their weight are more likely to counsel patients to do so and be more credible, too.”

Source: Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2010