Hello World!!

This is my initial post so please bear with me if it seems not quite polished..still trying to figure out the apps for this blog. I’ll get better, I promise :).

With so many medical and health topics to write about I thought that the best place to begin our journey to health should be “why”. Given that we have, according to some, an outstanding medical system focused on keeping us alive, why care about health. I mean if I have 5 medical issues there are medications and therapies that will minimize the symptoms of those illnesses and allow me to live a relatively “normal” life. I mean since the mid 1940’s the average American lifespan has been increasing…until recently. In 2019 the average American lifespan was 76 years for men and 83 years for women. In 20221 those number fell to 73 for men and 79 for women. Now some of that decline can be attributed to COVID but American life expectancy was already beginning to fall.

Is this decline in life expectancy seen in the rest of the industrialized world? The answer is a disturbing NO. The entire industrialized world is living significantly longer than Americans To quote the 1960’s rock group Buffalo Springfield song For what it’s worth, “…Stop, children, what’s that sound? Everybody look – what’s goin’ down?.” Apparently it is us! Indeed every country in the industrialized world is living longer and since the 1980’s, Americans are going in the opposite direction (click here)

Why is this happening. Is it genetics or lifestyle. Genetics is something we really cannot change. Our genes change slowly over many hundreds to thousands of years unless extreme outside pressures intervenes, which is hasn’t. I believe that the root of our shorter lifespans is the direct result of our lifestyles and our lack of desire to change. We can’t change our genes, however lifestyle is something we can change.

The industrialized world’s lifestyle differs from the typical Americans in several important parameters. These are: more physically active…walk more; eat better food -less GMO and processed food, less sugar, pesticides/herbicides, more organic foods, less gluten, smaller food portions; less stress…many countries have shorter work weeks and don’t take work home. There are other differences but I will go over them in other blogs. Basically, their lifestyles result in less illness and disease.

The medical community recognizes these differences but, because of imposed time constraints with patients, are too focused on the quick fix of medications…not an answer. The political community also recognizes these issues but many, too many are bought by large corporations trying to sell unhealthy products, maximize medication use and pollute the communities we live…all in the name of increasing corporate profits at the expense of our health (This is not a socialistic rant but a concern for people’s health).

Given the state of lifestyles and the ever increasing cost and decreasing quality of medical care…the only answer to our current predicament is to change our lifestyles. More pertinent information to follow.

Learning how to blog has caused me some stress…so I am going to meditate for the next 20 minutes and slow the stress-induced aging process.