for those of you who thought combining 80-100 hours work weeks, eating AMCHAM buffets, binge drinking, smoking and sleeping 4-5 hours, then you should read the third paper of Lancet’s recent China series

As recently reviewed in Newsweek, the recent changes diet, the sedimentary lifestyle, and the added stress of working in one of China’s many new shiny buildings has reduced the life expectancy for many of its middle class.

It is a trend that I have seen among many friends who “work hard and play harder” buy putting in 100 hour weeks and blowing off steam in one of Shanghai’s many clubs over the weekends.  It takes its toll… for some it means taking a detox trip to Thailand, for others it means being admitted to the hospital for exhaustion .. or as my friend put it, “paid leave”

For the Lancet, the answer was preventative medicine and a proactive government that would:

promote less salt and more fruit and vegetables in the diet, more exercise, and anti-smoking campaigns

In addition to that, I would also encourage Beijing to focus on developing stronger psychiatry, update their family planning regulations, continue working to improve the overall environment in which people live, and improve the quality of food and water that people are taking into their bodies.

These measures are also very important to the overall health of a person’s mind, body, and soul…