Health Considerations - Post Peak Oil / Climate Change

AutomaticEarth · Post by **AutomaticEarth** » 15 Apr 2016, 14:56

I discussed the idea of having a 'health thread' on the Powerswitch forum with Adam2.

I decided to put it under Preparations but this could easily have been added under the 'Living In The Future' section, or maybe having it under it's own heading in the Powerswitch forum......

We don't need 'the NHS is crap it's underfunded' or 'too migrants are using it and we are missing out' etc.

Sample topics for discussion:

- New or old viruses spreading due to climate change or lack or available drugs due to lack of feedstocks due to FF depletion

- old diseases coming back due to declining health standards

- what are you doing either individually and collectively to improve your health? ie improved diets, increased fitness regimes etc.

Please discuss.

Mods - I'll leave it up to you to decide where this topics sits. My view is that it should have it's own top level section under the Powerswitch forum but that is up to you lot...

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 15 Apr 2016, 15:28

Old virii spread (often of tropical origin) because they have never really been under control, and the more people there are, the faster and further they will spread.

Old diseases are coming back because they are caused by bacteria, and the over use of antibiotics have given rise to mutations which are not affected by antibiotics.

Air travel is allowing diseases to travel much faster around the world.

Every death causing disease that is defeated (which will only be temporary) will only delay the time to the inevitable catastrophic population collapse, and will make the situation when it happens that much worse.
Basically, we're all dooooomed!

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 15 Apr 2016, 16:21

Tropical diseases are also spreading with the warming climate and the consequent spread of their vectors.

A further theme could be traditional treatments that actually have scientific backing and some that work even though they don't have any scientific backing as yet. Willow bark would be one herbal treatment that has a foundation in science for pain relief would be one. Any others?

I'm going to stick my neck out here because I've used this successfully on animals in the past but homoeopathy could be another theme. I know that scientists hate this but it was prescribed to our goats by a traditionally qualified vet when very expensive conventional methods of treatment had not worked.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 15 Apr 2016, 16:24

It always seemed to me that making your life as cheap and simple to run as possible is a prerequisite for dealing with health issues. The less you have to worry about and the less you need to earn, the easier any ill-health will be to deal with and, indeed, lack of stress may prevent ill-health.

A small, easily-heated house, good neighbours, few ambitions and desires, minimal reliance on fossil fuels and gadgetry, some easily-grown food, a moderate, clean and diverse diet, all these things make old age easier to cope with.

So, resilience begets resilience.

Since moving to the west of Ireland 20 years ago, we've had very little illness - not even many colds. Hmmm. Maybe the sparser population, though we do have a rich social life.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 15 Apr 2016, 16:25

kenneal - lagger wrote:I'm going to stick my neck out here because I've used this successfully on animals in the past but homoeopathy could be another theme. I know that scientists hate this but it was prescribed to our goats by a traditionally qualified vet when very expensive conventional methods of treatment had not worked.

To me, you're not really sticking your neck out. The most recent success by a neighbour of mine was that of curing a sheep of cancer through homeopathy. She has other success stories too.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 15 Apr 2016, 16:25

I think that this is an important item for Preps as the availability and efficacy of conventional, or should that in the full context of history be novel, medicines declines.

It's funny how quickly a novel activity can become the conventional one when a lot of people are making a lot of money out of it as in chemical agriculture and modern pharmacology.

boisdevie · Post by **boisdevie** » 16 Apr 2016, 14:18

I think the NHS will be blown to pieces during the rest of my lifetime so I don't want to use what's left if I can avoid it. I'm 52 and part of my preparations for the future are to be in as good a shape as possible and this includes
1. Healthy diet.
2. No smoking - gave up.
3. No booze - gave up.
4. Lots of exercise - I run anything from 10k's to marathons. I also like to lane swim.
5. Active job (handyman) so lots of bendy, stretchy, pully, pushy stuff

Result. I am rarely ill apart from the odd winter cold. My BMI is 24.2 and I can still get into 30in jeans just like I did 30 years ago.
It's as much an investment as candles and AK47s.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 16 Apr 2016, 18:58

TB is already making a comeback.

Some diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes are auto-immune , although there may be environmental triggers.

Without genetic research and antibody technology, my wife would be a cripple. But thanks to those she was 10 feet up the apple tree pruning this afternoon.

Post by **clv101** » 16 Apr 2016, 19:22

boisdevie wrote:I think the NHS will be blown to pieces during the rest of my lifetime so I don't want to use what's left if I can avoid it. I'm 52 and part of my preparations for the future are to be in as good a shape as possible and this includes
1. Healthy diet.
2. No smoking - gave up.
3. No booze - gave up.
4. Lots of exercise - I run anything from 10k's to marathons. I also like to lane swim.
5. Active job (handyman) so lots of bendy, stretchy, pully, pushy stuff

Result. I am rarely ill apart from the odd winter cold. My BMI is 24.2 and I can still get into 30in jeans just like I did 30 years ago.
It's as much an investment as candles and AK47s.

Excellent point. In terms of 'prepping' keeping yourself as fit and healthy as possible really should be at the top of the list.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 16 Apr 2016, 20:25

There are people who were thought to be fit and healthy, top sportsmen some of them, and they dropped dead without warning. Fitness is not a guarantee.

Post by **clv101** » 16 Apr 2016, 20:52

woodburner wrote:There are people who were thought to be fit and healthy, top sportsmen some of them, and they dropped dead without warning. Fitness is not a guarantee.

Of course there's no guarantee, but you can stack the odds in your favour.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 18 Apr 2016, 03:26

I think the answer is to be fit but not superfit. Don't push the machine to its limits but stay within the cruising range! It's the unfit and the superfit who die of heart attacks.

cubes · Post by **cubes** » 18 Apr 2016, 22:14

A lot of Top sportspeople are on legal or illegal performance enhancing drugs which can't help health even if they improve performance.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 19 Apr 2016, 10:34

woodburner wrote:There are people who were thought to be fit and healthy, top sportsmen some of them, and they dropped dead without warning. Fitness is not a guarantee.

Indeed - I often hear of young men around 24 that suddenly die. They're usually heavily into competitive sports.

Post by **clv101** » 19 Apr 2016, 19:27

I think there's a reporting bias going on there! You hear about it because folk don't expect it. Elite sports people do have a lower death rate than the general population... I think I saw recently that 18 of the London 2012 athletes have subsequently died - which is around half the age-equivalent general population death rate.

So yes, some very fit young men drop dead... but not as many as unfit folk.