Do you think people are sicker now than they used to be?

[kathymuggle]

Do you think people are sicker now than they were about 20-30 years ago? Children?  Adults?  Both?

If you think so, any pet theories on why? 

Edited to add a caveat:  I am excluding those over 65 from this.  Medical advances have helped people live longer - but older people do get more illnesses.  A 85 yr old might be sicker now, but might have been dead at 85 had they been born 30 years earlier.

Edited by kathymuggle - 10/21/12 at 8:56am

[phathui5]

No, I just think that sick people nowadays are more likely to survive, whereas in the past more people who were sick died.

[Bokonon]

Yes, I think people have more chronic illnesses than they used to.  Most of my grandparents and great-grandparents lived into their 80s and 90s; there is no way my kids' grandparents will live that long with the conditions they already have.

[Vermillion]

Yes. I see how sickly my son's friends are and other kids his age... and I don't remember kids being so sickly when I was a kid!

Adults too. Lots of chronic conditions and just aging quicker than they should.

I think it's a combination of things. Environmental, food supply getting really crappy, over medicated, genetics getting wonky, etc. 
 

[Sharlla]

i think its really a personal thing.  some people are more prone to being sick while others arent.  i frequently got ear infection when i was younger but beyond age 9 ive been pretty healthy barring a yearly cold 

[kathymuggle]

I finally voted - and picked "people are sicker."

We have had 2 viruses go through this house since September - one was a doozy.  One child on antibiotics.  I have friends who have kids on antibiotics lately, made emergency room visits, missed days of school…it just seems like more than when I was young.  While this has been a particularly Sicky September, this type of nonsense is not uncommon.  Kids (and not just mine - not even mine in particular) get sick a lot.

My husband also seems to have more colds and the like than I remember my parents getting.  There are numerous people in his office who go to work sick 

So - more viral infections going around.  I suspect lack of outdoor time, poor sleep habits and bad food at the heart.  

I know there has been a rise in asthma, allergies and auto-immune disorders.  I suspect hyper cleanliness (aka the hygiene theory) plays a role in the upswing of allergies and asthma.  I am also concerned about the amount of plastics and pollution in our environment, although I do not know off the top of my head what they contribute to.  I also think pollution has been around since the industrial revolution, so I am not sure what if any part it plays in recent upswings in ill health.

Edited by kathymuggle - 10/21/12 at 8:59am

[MichelleZB]

What do you mean by "used to be"? Are we comparing our health with that of the 1950s? the 1850s? the Renaissance?

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by MichelleZB 

What do you mean by "used to be"? Are we comparing our health with that of the 1950s? the 1850s? the Renaissance?

Good point - and I edited the OP.

I was thinking about a time in most of our memories - say 20-30 years ago.

[Sharlla]

i wonder if people are just overdoing the abx and now their bodies cant just get over stuff without it.

[meandk0610]

definitely more sick! especially chronic illnesses.

i agree with several posters above. lack of sunshine/fresh air (newer houses closed up too tight to save electricity), lack of vitamins/minerals in food (due to non-rotation farming and using petroleum-based fertilizers), lack of movement (sitting in front of computers/tvs several hours a day, cuts to PE classes), loss of beneficial gut flora due to changing "food" tastes and overuse of antibiotics, and maybe all of the chemicals that are IN THE WATER (flouride, rocket fuel, etc.).

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by Sharlla 

i wonder if people are just overdoing the abx and now their bodies cant just get over stuff without it.

I am sure the abuse of antibiotics have a great deal to do with ill health, as do vaccines and anti-pyretics, which all interfere with the natural immune system which makes healing so much more difficult and results in chronic illness, in some it makes healing insurmountable because the innate healing support system is irrevocably damaged.

"Cancer was practically unknown until compulsory vaccination with cowpox vaccine began to be introduced. I have had to deal with at least two hundred cases of cancer, and I never saw a case of cancer in an unvaccinated person." - Dr D W Clark.

Mumps protects against ovarian cancer: vaccine steals the protection.

"On the basis of observations by the Vienna surgeon Professor Schmidt, which took place over decades in his practice, studies in the last 100 years have shown consistently that people who experienced childhood diseases accompanied by fever were less likely to supper from cancer in later life." Anita Petek-Dimmer.

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by meandk0610 

definitely more sick! especially chronic illnesses.

i agree with several posters above. lack of sunshine/fresh air (newer houses closed up too tight to save electricity), lack of vitamins/minerals in food (due to non-rotation farming and using petroleum-based fertilizers), lack of movement (sitting in front of computers/tvs several hours a day, cuts to PE classes), loss of beneficial gut flora due to changing "food" tastes and overuse of antibiotics, and maybe all of the chemicals that are IN THE WATER (flouride, rocket fuel, etc.).

I agree with the above and would also like to add GMO foods. I am in doubt that we will see even more chronic disease, especially cancer, as a result in the not too distant future.