The United States is in a era of abundance. The lifestyle of even the poor in the United States now surpasses how the wealthy lived a mere 100 years ago. US citizens today have a much better lifestyle than at anytime in our past. So wouldn’t that equate to a longer life. Why now has the United States fallen behind other countries in life expectancy. Life Expectancy in the US has fallen for two consecutive years. This breaks the trend of the past century where life expectancy has increased in all developing countries including the US. “In 1960, Americans had the highest life expectancy , 2.4 years higher than the average for countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But the US started losing ground in the 1980s. Us Life expectancy fell below the OECD average in 1998, plateaued in 2012, and is now 1.5 years lower than the OECD average.” ([email protected])
In 2013 the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine studied the US health decline. The study revealed that in the US people were unhealthier in a number of areas to include poorer birth outcomes, injuries, homicides, adolescent pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The investigation also showed a higher death rate in the US from drug abuse. Drug overdose deaths have increased by more than 130% since 2000. But, this is just the beginning. Death rates from alcohol abuse and suicide have also sharply risen contributing to the overall decline in American health. Most of these horrible increases have occurred in rural white America. The American Dream is often no longer seen as obtainable by middle class Americans. Life has stagnated with little hope of growth and progress for most of America and with the increase in the overall poorer health of Americans this negative spiral will only worsen unless there is a conscious effort across the board to turn this trend around.
I don’t have a solution to the problem. There is no magic bullet that I am aware of but I do know we all can make the choice to improve ourselves. We can choose to live a healthier lifestyle to be an example to those around us and offer some hope that life is worth living. We can all choose to be happy and being happy is not something you can buy or something that can be given it is a choice that each individual must make. Be the prism through which others can see and appreciate life. It sounds like a small thing but it is a start.
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