I found out today that just one alcoholic drink a day can increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Men, however, don't have to worry so much. Women have a greater amount of fat in their bodies than men, and alcohol can't be diluted by fat tissue. As a result, women have to be a bit more cautious and have to meet with their physicians more often regarding this issue
Well, due to the economic recession, many people are probably not meeting with physicians very often... But an economist from the University of North Carolina, Christopher Ruhm, thinks differently; he believes that a failing economy can actually lead to better health. He states, "Health is complicated. People think it's determined by medical care, and obviously that makes a difference, but it's not the primary thing. There are all these lifestyle factors, all these other things that are not well understood."
I take this to mean that people, in a recession, make thrifty decisions that end up being beneficial to their health. For example: rising gas prices will ideally lead to less car use, and, as a result, less pollution in the air and therefore we inhale less nastiness.
However, I don't know if Ruhm's theory is perfectly accurate, since healthy food, especially organic, can be especially pricier than the unhealthy, high-fructose corn syrup-containing junk that is packed on all of the shelves in most grocery stores. Just think about how expensive Whole Foods is...
I think that during times of economic recession, people put their health on the back burner; the choices that they begin to make will indirectly affect their health, but they do not make their choices based solely (if based at all) on health concerns. Even though the body is a temple. Even though health is important. Even though good health is necessary to live. In a recession, I think that the attitude of many people is perhaps to look at the short-term effects rather than the long-term benefits, and I think that this is manifested by the way people treat their own health.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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2 comments:
I wonder why it is that people would be healthier in this economic recession.... The only reason I can think of is that people are too scared to lose their jobs or chance it, so they have to stay healthy to avoid that. I agree that there MAY be a silver lining to the cloud, but it's not much in the grand scheme of things.
I don't see people being healthier during a recession either. I think people would be less healthy since they have to worry more about their budget. For example, more people are probably going to fast food restaurants to get cheaper food.
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