And that then would become a sad comment on society as all too often has
been discussed on this list. I suppose too that in the absence of help
(camaraderie), an ill person may find it difficult to find something to
laugh about which would defeat the treatment. We gloss over "self-worth"
and teach instead "monetary worth". How truly sad.
D.
On 01/10/2012 5:43 AM, de Bivort Lawrence wrote:
Perhaps this reflects the nature of the person. Cousins -- and so
many other people -- were/are oriented to helping others without
requiring benefit to themselves, and so they will publicize things
that do just that. Others -- too many others, in my opinion -- are
self-seeking, and won't do anything for others unless it provides them
with an economic benefit; these are the people who promote things that
they can make a profit on.
Perhaps that reference to Cousins laugh therapy died away -- beyond
the likelihood that some who heard of it thought it to be too simple
to be true -- merely means that there are more of the latter kind of
people than the former?
Cheers,
Lawry
On Sep 30, 2012, at 8:27 PM, D & N wrote:
Indeed. He cleared a few people out of hospital beds but it seemed to
go the way of a fad. It made a point but how much is it worth if
everyone can choose to do it for themselves for free.
D.
On 30/09/2012 11:44 AM, de Bivort Lawrence wrote:
Do you remember Norman Cousins and his laughter therapy?
Cheers,
Lawry
On Sep 30, 2012, at 12:12 PM, D & N wrote:
I have heard of such things.
Feeling bad. Negatives. Would this not block the flow of energies
through our bodies? Creating areas of stagnation? It is one thing
to have these areas assisted by massage (or whatever) but if the
underlying reason for illness is not addressed, the illness will
continue or return. There have been incidents of total cancer
remission without intervention. But, once one has cancer (or other
major illness) another circle in one's life is closing the ring. So
feeling bad may initiate a disease but now having the disease makes
one feel worse (perhaps in another way) and the feedback loop is
complete to retain the disease.
D.
On 29/09/2012 10:29 AM, Ray Harrell wrote:
So feeling bad gives you cancer. Rather than Cancer makes you
feel bad. Hmmm.
Interesting.
REH
*From:*[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of
*Keith Hudson
*Sent:* Saturday, September 29, 2012 1:05 PM
*To:* RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
*Subject:* Re: [Futurework] Diminishing life expectancy of the poor
At 15:04 29/09/2012, you wrote:
From today's AlterNet Newsletter. I find the last paragraph
interesting -- the idea that ill health and diminishing life
expectancy are at least partly the result of the poor feeling they
are sinking into an increasingly hopeless situation. Might life
expectancy be related to how good and useful you feel?
Yes, I'd have thought so.
Keith
Ed
Shocker Stat: Life Expectancy Decreases by 4 Years Among Poor
Whites in U.S.
Yesterday, the New York Times reported
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/life-expectancy-for-less-educated-whites-in-us-is-shrinking.html?pagewanted=all>
on an alarming new study: researchers have documented that the
least educated white Americans are experiencing sharp declines in
life expectancy. Between 1990 and 2008, white women without a high
school diploma lost a full five years of their lives, while their
male counterparts lost three years. Experts say that declines in
life expectancy in developed countries are exceedingly rare
<http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/15/nation/la-na-womens-health-20110615>,
and that in the U.S., decreases on this scale "have not been seen
in the U.S. since the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918." Even
during the Great Depression, which wrought economic devastation
and severe psychic trauma for millions of Americans, average life
expectancy was on the increase
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090928172530.htm>.
What are the reasons for the disturbing drop in life expectancy
among poor white folks, and in particular for the unusually large
magnitude of the decline? According to the Times, researchers are
baffled: one expert said, "There's this enormous issue of why . .
. It's very puzzling and we don't have a great explanation."
Undoubtedly, the increasing numbers of low-income Americans
without health insurance is a major contributor factor.
Researchers also say that lifestyle factors such as smoking, which
has increased among low-income white women, play a role; poor
folks tend to engage in more risky health behaviors than their
more affluent counterparts.
I will offer an alternative hypothesis, one which is not
explicitly identified in the Times article: inequality. In the
U.S., the period between 1990 and 2008, which is a period that saw
such steep declines in life expectancy for the least well-off
white people, is also a period during which economic inequality
soared <http://inequality.org/income-inequality/>. Moreover, there
is a compelling body of research that suggests that inequality
itself -- quite apart from low incomes, or lack of health
insurance -- is associated with more negative health outcomes for
those at the bottom of the heap. One of the most famous series of
studies of the social determinants of health, Britain's Whitehall
Studies <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehall_Study>, had as
their subjects British civil servants, all of whom health
insurance and (presumably) decent enough jobs. Intriguingly, these
studies
found a strong association between grade levels of civil servant
employment and mortality rates from a range of causes. Men in the
lowest grade (messengers, doorkeepers, etc.) had a mortality rate
three times higher than that of men in the highest grade
(administrators).
The Whitehall studies found that while workers in the lower grades
were more likely to be at risk for coronary heart disease due to
factors such as higher rates of smoking, higher blood pressure,
etc., even after controlling for those confounding factors, these
workers still experienced significantly higher mortality rates. So
what was behind such disparate health incomes among high-status
and low-status workers? Researchers pointed the finger at
inequality, hypothesizing that various psychosocial factors
associated with inequality --- such as the higher levels of stress
at work and at home experienced by the lower tier workers, as well
as their lower levels of self-esteem --- were behind the dramatic
differences in mortality rates.
I believe that inequality-related stressors are likely to be the
determining factors in declining American life expectancies, as
well. I'm surprised, in fact, that the Times article did not
specifically identify inequality as a causal factor, because the
health risks associated with economic inequality are
well-established in the scientific literature. For decades, the
United States has been making a series of political choices that
has distributed wealth and power upwards and left working
Americans not only poorer and sicker, but also feeling far more
burdened and distressed, and experiencing far less security and
control over their lives. The consequences of these choices have
been devastating, and absent a dramatic reversal in our political
course, they are likely to get even worse. Where inequality is
concerned, Republicans have their foot on the accelerator, while
the best the Democrats seem to be able to do is to (temporarily)
put their foot on the brake.
We are on a trajectory all right, and it's not a good one.
The Washington Monthly / By Kathleen Geier
<http://www.alternet.org/authors/kathleen-geier> | Sourced from
Washington Monthly
<http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_09/shocker_stat_of_the_day_life_e040058.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20washingtonmonthly/rss%20%28Political%20Animal%20at%20Washington%20Monthly%29>
Posted at September 22, 2012, 8:27am
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com
<http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/>
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_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
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_______________________________________________
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