Decreasing health and mobility in the UK

When considering health and mobility it is interesting to note that in the UK alone there are over ten million disabled people. Of these nearly half are of pensionable age with a further three quarters of a million being children.

Having a high proportion of older people with some kind of physical shortfall is not unusual as disability (in its literal form) increases with age. What is however of note in the UK is that future trends suggest that by 2020 somewhere between 55% and 60% of the “over 50 years of age” population will have some inhibitive health condition.

This is particularly concerning as it bucks the trend, seen over many centuries, where health, longevity and mobility have increased for the elderly. Furthermore, we have seen a proportional increase in the age at which the onset of many health related problems start, i.e. that “start” age getting older over the centuries and decades.

This has now reversed and, largely because of obesity, people are losing mobility younger, suffering heart disease and repertory disease much earlier in life and generally experiencing lower levels of overall health.

The reasons are, as ever, smoked over, but overeating and lack of exercise are undoubtedly the two most significant factors. Added to these is the low quality of artificially farmed food that we now eat. This sees unnaturally heavy and quickly grown animals and vegetables with high levels of pesticide, man made biological interference and long storage periods.

All told it is an unhealthy future outlook for us all and one that makes being as aware as possible of what we do and eat important. Don’t be undermined or distracted by government sponsored advertisements for reducing the amounts of salt that you eat. This kind of propaganda is intended to distract you from far bigger and more significant problems.

So what can you do?

It is hard to say other than to decrease your food intake and increase your exercise levels. But staying away from products like Asda turkey beasts (where every breast has exactly the same weight – which is “naturally” impossible) is one way to start. Also varying diets between many meats and carbohydrates seems to make sense. Eat pasta, rice, potatoes and assorted veg and try to eat red and white meat plus fish and seafood. Ultimately, this is what many continental Europeans, with a far higher life expectancy than those in the UK and USA do, and it seems to serve them well.