To Your Good Health
DEAR DR. ROACH: What can I do to stay healthy in prison? We don't really get a good choice of food, but I try to eat as healthy as possible. My stress level is kind of high due to being on lockdown. I exercise five times a day. — A.M.W.
ANSWER: Trying to stay healthy when you have limited choices is a problem faced not only by people who are incarcerated, but also people in nursing homes and even those who rely on others a great deal, especially for their food.
You've identified three major factors that affect health: diet, exercise and stress. While I understand you have to choose from limited options, a simple rule of more vegetables, legumes, fruits, whole grains and fish is better. Less processed meat and less sodium are best if possible. I just don't know how much control you have.
Exercise is as important as diet. Any exercise is good, but more intensive exercise leads to more benefits, and weightlifting exercise has additional benefits on top of aerobic exercise. Five times a day should be more than enough time to get a good amount of exercise, even if the time per session is limited.
Stress seems like something that you will have difficulty controlling. Some of the usual advice I give for people with high amounts of stress, such as fostering close relationships, may seem out of place for a person in prison, while others — breathing exercises, meditation — may be helpful for you.
DEAR DR. ROACH: A recent column advised readers to wear masks. Please print a study that shows masks work. I can show you 10 studies from the CDC that say they don’t. You should not encourage your readers to do something without proof. — C.W.
ANSWER: Although some authorities were hesitant to recommend masks at the beginning of the pandemic, the evidence has become strong that masks are effective at protecting both the wearer and (especially) others from getting sick. A study in July showing masks to be ineffective was retracted by the authors, noting their experimental data were unreliable and, therefore, “our findings are uninterpretable.” The best type of study, a clinical trial, is not yet available, although at least two are ongoing, despite concerns about the ethics of such a trial.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention affirmed shortly thereafter that “cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease, particularly when used universally within communities.” Because medical face masks, particularly the high-quality N95 masks, remain in short supply to health care providers in some parts of the country, members of the public are encouraged to use cloth masks, particularly those with two or more layers of washable, breathable fabric.