The so-called ‘western’ or industrialised nations of the world have long struggled with high levels of preventable illness. According to World Health Organization statistics the majority of population death occurring in these countries results from a very particular cause.
What is responsible for 75% of all deaths in Western nations?
What is responsible for the other 25%?
Researchers looking into longevity, healthcare and mortality have coined the term ‘diseases of civilization.’
The concept or term ‘diseases of civilization’ refers to the changed (adapted) physiological function (that we label ‘disease’) which occurs because our culture and lifestyle have transformed profoundly over the last 10,000 years, while our genetic requirements, set before this time, have not.
This results is such a mis-match, that our bodies cannot adapt successfully and maintain that adaptation without expressing ill-health and sickness and eventually, death.
Diseases of civilization could also be called diseases of lifestyle choice – they are the many chronic states of sickness and illness, that arise from toxic load or deficiency in the biological needs for ideal human life. They include large-scale killers such as heart disease and cancer, but also inflammatory, auto-immune, digestive, hormonal and many other forms of sickness. A huge one are degenerative diseases arising from constant ongoing stress on our body’s adaptation mechanisms.
This research suggests that combined, the various diseases of civilization are responsible for 75% of all ‘modern’ deaths (although this research was from 1988, and the data now suggest the percentage is much higher!)
Some people argue that our lifestyle choices are often amounting to ‘slow suicide’
The other 25% of deaths arise from all other causes – acute trauma, accident and injury being the primary causes in this grouping.
This is ironic and sad – that our society and culture is focused on abundance and growth, yet we live with and allow such levels of death, and dysfunction. Such small changes in the ‘way we do life’ can profoundly change our quality of life. It is promoting these changes to individuals and our society at large that is a vital part of what we do at Noosa Junction Chiropractic.
We need to provide leadership to truly make change at the individual and the societal level if we are going to get these statistics to change.
