By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index

I heard an interview with a doctor recently who was emphasizing the difference between health and medicine. Doctors, he insisted, “practice” medicine. We, as individuals, and sometimes patients, are predominantly responsible for our health.

And, as expensive as medicine and health care might be, being sick is, to my mind at least, the highest cost – and being impaired or having a fatal case of anything is, humanly speaking, the greatest cost of all.

It would be easy to make the argument that no other state or condition has a greater impact on our life and sense of well-being than our health. Our health affects our moods, energy level, ability to concentrate and our physical capacity.

You don’t need to be a medical professional to notice that the vast majority of Americans are not healthy. Or energetic. Or operating at full mental capacity. And fewer and fewer of us live as long as those of other countries. The average life expectancy for the U.S. in 2023 is barely over 79. And that has barely changed in the past ten to twelve years.

According to the most recent numbers, 40 counties have average life longevity greater than the USA – including Slovenia, Poland and Estonia. The typical resident of Japan or Hong Kong lives five years longer than the average American.

The land of the free

We have many statements, slogans and advocates of “freedom”. But I would argue that freedom from pain, and freedom of physical movement is the ultimate freedom. If we are in pain, or somehow immobilized, freedom is no longer an abstraction but a practical reality. And yes, freedom isn’t free. But neither is good health.

How we live, how we die

Everyone dies, of course, but as you might expect, we Americans are literally an exception to the way the rest of the world lives – and dies.

We in America (75% of us) die from heart disease or cancer – and, as more than one headline put it, “being poor”. In other words, most of us die far earlier than we (statistically at least) should. And, we do so because of our own lifestyle and dietary choices.

Early detection and prevention are key to medical interventions. And the major causes of death in America are preventable.

But, as always, it is not so simple

To put it differently, for the vast majority of us, we could live longer and healthier, if we wanted to. But apparently fewer and fewer of us want to.

In 2021, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death nationwide – with more than 14 deaths for every 100,000 people. Suicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34. And adolescents were the age group most likely to visit emergency departments for suicidal thoughts. According to a recent CDC survey, 1 in 3 teen girls said they seriously considered attempting suicide.

To put it at its most basic – children should not be dying.

In 1900, pneumonia was the leading cause of death among children.

Since then, thanks to early diagnosis, vaccinations, antibiotics, and medical interventions, children’s deaths (in 2016) were less than 2% of all deaths. You can see the fine print of childhood mortality (as of 2016) here.

For the past several years automobiles and guns have gone back and forth as the leading causes of death among children – with guns taking the lead in 2022 – and so far in 2023.

How children, on a near daily basis in America, got their hands on guns or were caught in a civilian, even neighborhood, gunfire incident will puzzle future generations. And it certainly baffles other nations.

These are rarely, if ever, hunting accidents or any other legitimate, authorized use of weapons.

And other countries do not have guns as a major contributor to national death rates. Especially for children.

We in America have a split-screen sense of death; if it’s by car or guns, it is inevitable, but if it’s toy or food related, lawsuits and recalls are immediate.

But we tend to be split about everything

We love our self-help books, but we hate other people telling us what we should do. Or eat. Or not eat.

We love our devices and social media formats – but feel worse if we spend much time on them and dislike what they do to us – and our kids.

When it comes to health, you know the drill

There’s no great mystery to good health. Yes, we all have genetic tendencies that make us more susceptible to certain conditions from allergies to asthma, but much of our health and state of well-being is the inevitable accumulation of our good – or not-so-good – habits and encounters throughout our lives.

Taking on one’s health can be a challenge. In a future article we’ll feature some local practitioners that can, and have been, leading others to a healthier and fuller life.

After all, if you don’t have health, what do you have?