Americans Are Getting Sicker & Expected Longevity is Plateauing Worldwide
Americans Are Getting Sicker
Expected life spans are plateauing worldwide, and the United States isn’t exempt from this trend. This suggests that life-extending advances in medicine, food safety, and plumbing may have reached their limits in preserving the quality and functional life of humanity. The decline in American life expectancy started prior to global trends and the onset of the pandemic, suggesting deep-rooted systemic problems requiring immediate action.
The American medical system has implicitly, if not explicitly, promised Americans better health and longer lives, but what’s happening is the complete opposite. Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and dementia are skyrocketing. Young adult dementias have at least doubled in people aged 45 to 64 since 2013 (according to an article in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers 2016 and others). We’re seeing that one in two Americans are going to have cancer in their lifetime. Now, one in two young adult cancers have gone up over 70% in the last 10 years. If that isn’t frightening enough:
Over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese
50% of American adults have type diabetes or prediabetes
In 1950, these diseases existed in less than 10% of Americans. In the 1920s, it was 1%. Now, it’s 50% of Americans.
What’s happening to the kids?
ADHD and autism are through the roof, more adolescents are depressed than ever, and there are vast rates of mental illness. Twenty-five percent of women are on SSRI anti-depressant medications; in France, it’s a third of their population. Despite living in the wealthiest, safest country in human history, a quarter of the population is on antidepressant medications; that’s insane. Autism rates are astronomical, with one in 36 children having autism now. In the 1960s, it was extraordinarily rare to hear about autism. I seldom saw it during my medical training in the 90s. Today in California, it’s one in 22.
Early Puberty and Infertility Rates
We have the earliest puberty rates right now. That’s gone down an average of six years since the1900s. Many young girls are reaching sexual maturity at age 10.
Infertility is a significant global health issue. Approximately 1 in 8 US women aged 15 to 49 years receive infertility services. The obesity epidemic has greatly contributed to infertility rates. Infertility caused by polycystic ovarian disease (PCOS) is affecting 26% of women. PCOS is fundamentally a metabolic. Twenty-five percent of men under 40 experience erectile dysfunction, which is a metabolic disease like PCOS.
Looking at older age, menopausal symptoms are a disaster for women. This is why the menopause is affecting so many women, and they are desperate. Many suffer from brain fog or insomnia. Then we have full-blown Alzheimer’s going up, so we’ve got all these neurodevelopmental issues and neurodegenerative issues sort of across the lifespan.
These hormonal issues are exploding, but no one is stopping asking why this is happening. . Instead, we categorize ADHD, depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s separately. Yet, infertility and cognitive decline across the lifespan suggest something deeper.
We’ve got heart disease, which is almost preventable as the leading cause of death in the United States, killing around 800,000 people per year. It sounds unbelievable, but many more diseases could be listed.
Why Doctors are Becoming Aware
As an anesthesiologist, I worked 50-plus hours a week. And when you pop your head up for just a second, and start asking questions, you quickly realize what they don’t want you to do in healthcare. What’s causing the rise of these diseases? Every time I take care of a patient with diabetes or autoimmune disease, there’s a voice inside of me whispering and then a little louder, and finally, with a deafening call that something was wrong with the American health system. I especially realized this when I lived in France for a year. The rise in these diseases is not just a coincidence, but a result of systemic issues within the American health system.
Empowering Ourselves with Knowledge
When we delve into the statistics, they reveal a stark reality. This realization is step one towards understanding and addressing the health crisis. That led me on a 20-year journey. I’ve since left the anesthesia world full-time. I realized that when you go to science with a root cause perspective, you return to Pub Med with a slightly distinct perspective. You see a self-evident glaring answer.
Still, healthcare can only do so much to rescue consumers from self-inflicted illnesses. It’s a better solution to avoid self-sickening diets and behaviors rather than become dependent on hypertension, diabetes, or chemotherapy treatments that enable those behaviors to endure without death – for a time.
The Interconnected Health Crisis - adapted from the Joe Rogan Experience with Cally & Dr. Casey Means
“People know something’s wrong, and this health issue is the tip of the iceberg of what’s happening today. It’s a reflection of human health and evidence of the destroyed ecosystem of our globe. The fact that we have forgotten that we’re completely connected to nature and entirely independent of it. Humans have become so powerful and so technologically advanced and so connected in recent decades that we now actually do have the power to both destroy the world and destroy our health.
Understanding the Interconnected Health Crisis is not just a personal issue, but a societal one. We all desire the good for ourselves and our children. However, the current health crisis is not isolated, but interconnected with various systems and issues, making it complex for people to comprehend. But this is the reality we are facing, and we have the power to make a choice.
We need to decide whether we will address these interdependent issues, whether we will make an effort and be courageous enough to fight for this, or whether we will let ourselves be told that there’s nothing wrong, nothing to see here. At the same time, our health and that of the planet are being destroyed. I think, you know, just to back up to the bigger picture of why people are becoming so passionate about this, I think that the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement is one reason why people are so passionate about this. One of the most disturbing things is how few people speak out when the data is so obvious. We must be focused on the problems. The data is laid out, but we’re not being told this anywhere other than the Internet. There are pharmaceutical drug companies advertising. Food companies will never tell you any of these things. It’s a human issue, and people are willing to take money to avoid discussing one of our biggest problems.
This is the tip of the iceberg—a fundamental planetary issue, but like the planetary issue, it is only the tip of what’s happening.
Which is a spiritual issue. We are not fighting for life in this world anymore. I think that’s more of a consciousness issue. You know, we talked about why no one has covered this. But I think people see it. In some way, we have lost respect for the recklessness of life, and that’s what our actions reflect. We know a lot: We have the technology, the money, and the resources to fix all of this, the planet, and our health, and we’re not.
That’s why I think something darker is happening on the consciousness level. We can find our way out of this if we think. It will be hard to get out of this, especially if we stick to partisan politics and quibble about individual policy ideas. It has to start where we are committed to life, to awe, connecting with the source, and then listening and moving out of here. Or are we not, and if we choose not, which is what I think we’re doing, I think there’s a vast light happening. But if we don’t, we’re on the road to existential disaster. We’re that powerful now. That’s why everyone’s interested in this issue right now.”
For more information please read my book, Stopping Pain or go to my website at www.johnathanedwardsmd.com
