Our Worldly 'BIG PROBLEM'

A big shift is happening around the globe regarding Health. For many years, the largest health challenge in the world was undernutrition, infectious disease and mother/child complications, which payed heavy toll on the global population especially in developing countries. Due to global efforts to reduce mortality rates and burden of diseases, huge improvements have been made. This and the rapid change in age structure makes global health shift towards another epidemilogical challenge. At this moment Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) or lifestyle related chronic disease have become the dominant global health problem. Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths (17.9 million people annually), followed by cancers (9.0 million), respiratory diseases (3.9 million), and diabetes (1.6 million), and these 4 groups of diseases account for over 80% of all premature NCD death. Urgently, we need a solution. Our globe is at an all-time high where tragically every 2 seconds someone dies prematurely (aged 30-69) from Non-Communicable Diseases. That means 5 while you started to read this blog! These must be considered as preventable deaths.

The science of healthcare does not exactly know what causes NCDs, we only get a hang of risk factors associated with NCDs, which are mostly lifestyle related. We know that the rise of NCDs has primarily been driven by four major risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets. But just knowing doesn’t change much. In 2016, six in ten adults of the population in the USA is registered for having a chronic illness and four in ten have 2 or more. Mechanisms of treatment are not targeting the source of illness but focused around symptom relief.  Healthcare of NCDs is treating symptoms, what medical care in general is mostly about.

Now the doctor may know best how to treat symptoms, especially on the single discipline she/he is an expert, but does not necessarily know what is best for the whole person, the whole of the Spirit, Mind and the Body. Even in 2019, the science of healthcare still holds predominantly a biological-mechanical approach of the body; a minority of scientists and doctors begin to see that Spirit, Mind and Body are constituents of the person that are interacting at all times striving for their best wellbeing. And, that maybe the origin of disease is not evidently related to the symptoms but simply are signals the body releases. The bright side is that progressively more studies are researching these relations (e.g. epigenetics and psychoneuroimmunology) and show a clear direct relation between the spirit, mind and the body. For instance, the influence of mental states (e.g. depression) on gut health and vice versa and the positive influence of meditation on health. We have to bear that it takes a while for the conclusions of these studies to be practically integrated with current treatments and interventions in classical medicine (although Hippocrates so long ago included body as well as soul in “health”). It would be gamechanger approach for medical care to focus on causes, not symptoms. Aiming to pivot the increase in NCDs and reverse illness, reduce the number of premature deaths, lower the years of lost life and increase quality of life, we need to increase the speed of creating awareness of causes of NCDs.

It took about 70 years to create awareness and habitual changes to reduce smoking. As we speak, many corporations adapt total non-smoking policy on their premises. Disney adapted this policy now for all of the Disney parcs.

Now let’s speed up together. It is time for change! Time to create a new vision on health and help each other to create health. IT may be as big as changing the whole paradigm on Health and Illness and target the real cause instead of the symptoms. And it can be as simple as to change judgement over new things and be more open minded for options. Options like a plant-based whole foods lifestyle, mindful breathing, meditation to name a few. All evidence based practices. We cannot pivot by repeating what we do, but we can change ourselves to be a bit more open for the new. Because it is coming. You can help by being more open to new options for yourself and encouraging lifestyle changes for those around you, accepting those early adopters, or join a meditation class, just give it a try! Many studies show these changes help to create health, and it does not exclude you. It is time for change. Pivot.