Today, the market economy has taught us to look with pity on people who work their lands, or who eat from the little they have, believing that our access to a variety of imported products makes us luckier and healthier. We are the people who think that it is better to take the taxi to the gym and run there on the lane than in the park; we are the ones who believe that the products from the local producers are not the best because we do not find on them the bio label and because they are not in nice packaging; we are the ones who drink pills after eating a lot so we can eat more, and so on.  We need to learn to differentiate between a biologically healthy lifestyle and a commercially healthy lifestyle.

How companies got to influence our lifestyle?

As consumers, we need to know that there are different strategies that companies apply to make us buy products that we don’t even need, but they convince us that we do. There are emotional selling strategies, which aim at mass selling by using strategies like 

  • making the buyers feel special; 
  • sharing some secrets in the field to gain the buyer’s trust; 
  • convincing people that what they sell is something necessary for happiness; 
  • telling stories to the buyer about the origin of the product, its structure, etc. which makes people attach to that object by loving its story.

The lifestyle we have has been largely manipulated by the economic system in which we live, namely: 

  • Media companies are interested in making money, that’s why the media are not independent, because they depend on money from commercials and advertize whatever the companies ask;
  • The economic companies manipulate our desire and direction of purchase;
  • The state interested in increasing revenues to the budget approve these behaviors of companies, the higher their revenues – the higher the income taxes of these companies.

  This story is not a new one. Since the years 1980-1990, The United States of America promoted the idea of the perfect American life, which was related to buying real estate, consuming certain products (milk and breakfast cereals), to have a newspaper subscription, etc.

How the lifestyle change affects us?

All the changes in our lifestyle have been strongly debated by scientists in the field of health since the First World War. The appearance of cities and the totality of pollution factors that affect our airways,  the entertainment factors that invade our minds with all kinds of information leaving us no time and space to think about ourselves, the ready-made food with all kinds of preservatives that affect our health, etc. We have become part of a system that is by no means organized for the well-being of people and for their health but for the evolution of companies and the growth of their income.  What I’m saying is that all institutions are somewhat engaged in a competition to accumulate as many funds as possible, money that if they exchanged for products or services they cannot spend in a lifetime (and to enjoy these things).  Although I would like to blame the companies, I don’t think I can, because they behave like living organisms. In a world where money means power, and where you need money to exist, companies are forced to keep up with the competition to stay alive.

In this whole story, I have one thing to blame – the high games of people with money. Their games have finally a huge impact on simple people.

How are we affected in our daily lives?

To integrate into society we do whatever is advertised to be normal, so, we eat a lot of meat prepared with chemicals (one of the key factors in triggering cancer); we eat sweets with huge amounts of sugar (key factors in obesity, hormonal imbalance, and diabetes); we spend hours watching the phones and other screens (which causes strain on the eye muscles, which is why every year the number of people who are diagnosed with vision problems increases).

What can we do?

We can make a daily schedule of various activities, limit the number of hours we sit on the phones and look at how others live their lives, and go out to live our lives! Go out for a walk and not take a taxi! We complain that there is a lot of pollution, but we are also the ones who refuse to walk and prefer to stay in traffic.

The need to think about the futureHealth experts clearly say that the primary cause of muscle, bone and whole body degradation come from:

  • lack of exercise (which normally strengthens blood circulation through the organs and stimulates oxygenation and nutrition of all cells in the body); 
  • a poor diet, full of carbohydrates and sugars with no nutrients (which gives us enough energy but does not give the body fiber, minerals or vitamins necessary for proper functioning);
  • the abuse of prepackaged foods (which support the development and multiplication of bad bacteria in the body’s flora and the development of cancer cells);
  • lack of varied physical activities (limiting ourselves to several activities that we know how to do represent a physical and mental routine, which does not stimulate our brain to function and will gradually lead to the degradation of brain cells);
  • the routine of life (which affects us especially psychologically).

 Sources:

Zhou X., 2015. Why there are more and more people wearing glasses? In Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy. Available at: https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/10/23/why-there-are-more-and-more-people-wearing-glasses/

Cancer Council, 2011. Red meat, processed meat and cancer. In Cancer Council. Available at: https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/1in3cancers/lifestyle-choices-and-cancer/red-meat-processed-meat-and-cancer/

Rath M., 2019. Cancer and Sugar: Is There a Link? In WebMD Cancer Center. Available at: https://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/cancer-sugar-link