UPDATED: June 11, 2025
Greetings, and thank you for visiting. If you have an interest in preventive medicine and science-based recommendations for improving your health, this website and the newsletters upon which it is based are exactly what you’ve been looking for.
Subscriptions are totally free, and are offered as a health education public service. There are no upgrades or paid subscriptions. Newsletters cover a wide variety of health-related topics, exploring subjects in which I am personally interested, as well topics that my readers suggest.
Subscribers are able to contact me by replying to any emailed Newsletter. I greatly appreciate their feedback, and try to answer every email that I receive. I think of this health education project as a collaborative effort. Reader input via Substack’s “Notes” feature is what inspires me to keep updating my Posts with the latest information.
How the Newsletter Came About
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, I started sending the latest medical information to friends and family members to help them survive. They then shared that information with people in their own social circles. I eventually created a blog, so the new people in my expanding network would be able to access information that I had previously shared.
A time came when there was less to say about the pandemic, so I started covering other subjects related to health and preventive medicine in a new blog. I eventually discovered that Substack was more suitable for publishing a newsletter, and also makes it easy to update previous posts.
Why Healthy Living?
I’ve spent a half-century as a primary-care physician, health educator, and author, promoting preventive medicine and healthy lifestyles. It is my sincere hope that the information I present in my Newsletters will prove useful for anyone who wants to enjoy a healthier life. You might say that I’ve been on a “Healthy Living Mission.”
A healthy lifestyle reduces the risks for a great many chronic illnesses, contributes to longevity, and substantially improves people’s physical and mental well-being. It is hard to feel happy and fulfilled when we are ill. Good health is really our most precious asset, and our country’s most valuable natural resource.
Newsletter subscriptions have always been, and always will be totally free. Writing inspires me to keep learning new things, and allows me to share what I learn and contribute to the betterment of society.
If you’ve subscribed, but haven’t received any Newsletters, please check your Spam folder. If they are there, mark those emails as “Not Spam.” If they aren’t in your Spam folder, look under your Promotions tab or in the Trash folder.
What to Expect
I may not post new articles with any regularity because I am continually updating previously published articles. With ever more articles in my Archive, keeping their information current has been consuming much of my time.
While waiting for the next post, I invite you to read my prior articles, or reread any that may have interested you in the past. They keep getting longer, and many of them have been improved by incorporating suggestions from subscribers.
Your Privacy
According to the platform, Substack protects the privacy of subscribers' email addresses, and uses industry-standard security measures to protect the data it holds. Substack won't sell any of its users’ personal data to third parties. People who unsubscribe are permanently deleted from the database.
I will not use your email address for any purposes other than emailing newsletters and responding to your inquiries or comments. I value my privacy, and I also respect yours.
Advantages of Subscribing
All subscriptions are totally free, no strings attached.
New articles are emailed as soon as they are published.
Some articles will be sent only to subscribers.
Subscribers can contact me by email.
Works in Progress
The articles posted on this Substack website are a work in progress. As new information becomes available, and I explore better ways for communicating content, these Posts will continue to evolve. Emailed Newsletters offer subscribers a first look at new articles. Then, read the latest updates in your web browser, or with the Substack app for smartphones and tablets.
Help Spread the Word
You can help me spread the word about Healthy Living Is Good Medicine by sharing the link to its website: https://drmick.substack.com/. I welcome your collaboration in making the world a healthier place, one person at a time.
Why Public Comments are Turned Off
Subscribers are always able to contact me directly by email, simply by replying to any emailed Newsletter. I have not, however, enabled public comments, likes, and restacks for my Posts. That’s because I’m unwilling to spend time moderating comments and removing those with misinformation. I don’t want to provide a forum where anonymous people can spread lies, provoke arguments, and attack others.
If you like what I’ve written, please share the links to my articles with your friends and followers on social media, and recommend that they subscribe to the newsletter. If you have questions but aren’t a subscriber, please become one, and then contact me by replying to any email.
Conflicts of Interest Disclosure
I receive no financial support, incentives, sponsorships, contributions, or donations for publishing this newsletter. I am not employed by any entity or affiliated with any institution. I am not offering any services. The only thing I have for sale are some books that I’ve written, and I hope you’ll forgive their occasional mention.
The opinions expressed in my articles, except where otherwise noted, are entirely my own. They are shaped by my conscience and my concern for the health, education, and welfare of the American public. Any mentions of specific products or services are meant only to serve as examples, and do not constitute endorsements.
Although I receive dividends from inherited shares of Pfizer, Inc., I do not promote or prioritize any of their products. Aside from that, I have no financially beneficial relationships with the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and health insurance industries, nor with any health products, dietary supplements, the food industry, or agri-business. I have no hidden agendas, and the medical information I present is evidence-based.
Obligatory Disclaimer
The information presented here is of a general nature, for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose, prescribe for, or treat any illness or health condition. This website does not provide specific medical advice for individuals, and it is not a substitute for the guidance of licensed healthcare providers and the personal care that they are able to provide.
The health needs of individuals are unique and diverse, and it is unlikely that specific suggestions will apply to all people. It is therefore up to the reader to determine if the information is relevant to their particular interests and needs. No posts on this site should ever be taken as a substitute for the personalized medical advice that can only be provided by your own doctor and other qualified professionals providing diagnoses and treatments.
While some of the recommendations may be useful for many healthy adults, they may not apply to your specific situation, and they might not be appropriate for children, women who are pregnant or nursing, or for anyone with an illness. Please consult with qualified medical professionals for their specific recommendations before making any changes to your lifestyle.
No warranties of any kind are expressed or implied. By reading the newsletters you agree to hold harmless the author and publisher for any losses, direct or indirect, that are incurred as a result of using the book's information, including, but not limited to, any inaccuracies due to errors or omissions. If acting upon any of the information in the newsletters, the reader must assume all inherent risks.
Copyright Notice
This material is copyrighted. Sharing the URL link to this website and the links to individual Posts is encouraged, as well as cross-posting articles by other Substack authors. However, reproducing this material in whole or in part for any other purposes, except for brief quotes with authorship noted, constitutes a copyright violation.
Any writing attributed to me that appears elsewhere on social media should be viewed with suspicion. Deliberate distortions of people’s written or spoken words, along with misleading images and videos, are a serious concern when it comes to online sources of information. Please be wary.
More Information
For a comprehensive overview of lifestyle-focused preventive medicine, check out my Prescriptions for Healthy Living website.