ABSTRACT
Decisions about health inherently involve tradeoffs over time. Many choices we have made in the past and are making in the present jointly shape our health in the future. What makes managing our health difficult is the prevalence of tradeoffs between what we prefer in the present and what is in our best long-term interest. Many of the things that feel rewarding in the present, such as consuming sugar and fatty foods, alcohol, smoking and drugs, potentially unsafe sexual activity, taking exhilarating risks, or venting anger, increase the odds of negative health consequences in the future. By the same token, practices that would help long-term health, such as exercising, getting vaccinations, regular check-ups and medical testing, compliance with medical treatment, dental hygiene, and spending time on safety precautions, are often annoying at best, and highly aversive at worst. It is these intertemporal tradeoffs that are at the core of this chapter.
