Re:Things I've noticed while visiting the ICU
by nativecoinc on Friday November 18, 2022 @05:02PM
(#33663001)
There’s a lot of talk about supposedly un-PC, taboo subjects that are just not so.
We have many common diseases that are outright labeled “lifestyle disease”. And tabloids scream at you with headlines like “This one weird thing will dramatically [increase/decrease] your chances of getting Alzheimers”. Impolite subject? Sure, telling an individual that they should just lose weight is an asshole move since it won’t do any good, so in that sense it is uncouth. But as a general background noise that we are all supposed to accept? Oh, it’s not taboo at all.
It is of course completely irrational considering the toll that the actual disease would have on me, but I am in part afraid of getting something like T2 Diabetes just because of the social stigma of getting a Lifestyle Disease (sort of like a negative lifetime achievement award).
And as far as critique is concerned: I’ve been thinking lately that the term "lifestyle" can be misleading for about 30% of our lives. Because being "sedentary" is a lifestyle now, and many of us spend a whopping 50% of our waking, everyday lives being very sedentary in an office. (As for the non-waking time we seem to be stuck with sedentariness.) When I think of "lifestyle" I think of choices, but having a job is hardly a choice for most people. So if the powers that be really want to hold us 100% accountable for our own bad choices, then they should at least give us standing desks, those small walking treadmills, the opportunity to go outside and walk for longer phone calls and meetings, etc.
We have many common diseases that are outright labeled “lifestyle disease”. And tabloids scream at you with headlines like “This one weird thing will dramatically [increase/decrease] your chances of getting Alzheimers”. Impolite subject? Sure, telling an individual that they should just lose weight is an asshole move since it won’t do any good, so in that sense it is uncouth. But as a general background noise that we are all supposed to accept? Oh, it’s not taboo at all.
It is of course completely irrational considering the toll that the actual disease would have on me, but I am in part afraid of getting something like T2 Diabetes just because of the social stigma of getting a Lifestyle Disease (sort of like a negative lifetime achievement award).
And as far as critique is concerned: I’ve been thinking lately that the term "lifestyle" can be misleading for about 30% of our lives. Because being "sedentary" is a lifestyle now, and many of us spend a whopping 50% of our waking, everyday lives being very sedentary in an office. (As for the non-waking time we seem to be stuck with sedentariness.) When I think of "lifestyle" I think of choices, but having a job is hardly a choice for most people. So if the powers that be really want to hold us 100% accountable for our own bad choices, then they should at least give us standing desks, those small walking treadmills, the opportunity to go outside and walk for longer phone calls and meetings, etc.