How To Minimize Negative Impact Of Modern Lifestyle On Your Health

Modern conveniences come at a price. Exposure to crowds, ingesting altered food and using synthetic products is harmful to our health. Minimize this negative impact!

 

In one of my recent posts, I wrote about the origins of “modern” medicine. One of the conclusions of the posts was that the demand for treatment and prevention of contagious diseases (“modern” medicine) was necessitated by living in an industrialized, modern society.

Most of our diseases today are categorized as consequences of lifestyle. As I explained in the older post, there are two distinctly different meanings of “lifestyle”. One is the collection of your choices. The other, the negative impact of living in an “industrialized, modern society”.

Speaking of the latter, we’ve all had some eye-opening experiences during the pandemic and pandemic-related lockdowns. We got sick less often working from home. While wearing face masks, many of us noticed that we didn’t “catch” the flu and were not – or significantly less – affected by allergies.

I’m not saying that individual choices don’t contribute to poor health. Of course, they do! We all know how sedentary style, bad eating habits, sleep deprivation, etc. impact our health. For the sake of this post, I’d like to focus on minimizing the adverse side effects living in a “modern society” has on our health.

 

Here’s what puts us at risk:

• Living, working, and commuting in crowded conditions

• Spending time in a crowd (movie theater, museum, concert, shopping, socializing, etc.)

• Eating altered foods

 

Logically, it’s in our best interest – as far as health is concerned – to avoid:

• Crowds and gatherings of any kind

• Ingesting altered food and water

• Using synthetic products that contaminate our bodies and living spaces

• Please note that I omitted such things as air, sound and light pollution that have additional, negative impact on us.

 

So how to escape the “modern lifestyle” that makes our lives comfortable and pleasant while at the same time ruining our health?

The best way of course, is by the power of money. (If you can afford to buy an uninhabited island and move there permanently, I highly recommend it!)

 

For the rest of us….

1. If you can work from home, do. If not, consider point 6.

2. If you can live in a small household, do. If not, consider point 6.

3. If you can avoid public transportation, do. If not, consider point 6.

4. Avoid crowds!!! Go digital, instead.

5. Socialize outdoors or with a small group that shares your health concerns.

6. Be a little paranoid: a face mask and gloves whenever you are in public spaces provides an extra security layer.

7. Always choose natural over synthetic when it comes to body care, everyday products and home goods.

8. Always choose natural over altered when it comes to food, nutritional supplements, first aid, and medication.

 

To us, those born into the “modern society”, life without it isn’t easy to imagine. On the other hand, we are all well-versed in climate change, the vegan culture, conservation, etc. They are IMPORTANT. So are YOU and your health.

 

Photo by Aaron Sebastian on Unsplash