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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

From A Wellness Perspective, Are We Better Off Now Than 100 Years Ago? (Encore 2)

Wednesday August 6, 2003

Politicians are often fond of asking "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"-- or whenever the other political party was in power. A variation of this question, from a self-management perspective, might be fun to ponder, namely, "Are we who are alive today better off than people were 100 years ago?" Of course, it's necessary to clarify to some extent the nature of the criteria for making such an assessment. From a wellness or self-management perspective, I'd suggest we form our first impressions on this question based on quality of life issues. Is it easier for us to choose healthy lifestyles today, or was it easier 100 years ago? Which time in American history provided more favorable conditions, more agreeable social and environmental factors?

This is a challenge worthy of a doctoral dissertation, a book or a major motion picture! However, a brief essay will have to do for the moment!

For starters, here are the factors that seem to give the edge, from a wellness or quality of life perspective, to the folks who were around a century ago. (Of course, you might also keep in mind that no matter how much you might have enjoyed life 100 years ago, if you had done so then, you'd be dead now!)

Advantage 1900:

There were only 8,000 cars. This meant more parking spaces, less gridlock, pollution and crashes than we have today. Also, it would have been better for pedestrians and bikers, since the maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph. (I often travel nearly three times that speed on my triathlon bike, though this could prove difficult on 20th century roads, not to mention the bikes of that era.)
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. This is a good thing for the 1.4 million people living in California - lots of space, no urban sprawl and no smog, even in LA.
Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound. While a dollar went a long way, they were harder to obtain. The average wage in the US was twenty-two cents an hour. The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year! An accountant could make $2000 per year, a dentist $2500, a veterinarian $1500 to $4000 and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year. No data are available on salaries of Internet hosts.
Heart disease and stroke were not the leading diseases that killed people. Unfortunately, pneumonia and influenza, tuberculosis, and diarrhea were the three leading causes of death, so this is not such a great trade off.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. This was a great opportunity for astute land speculators to buy up some prime sites and make a killing in the future boomtown. However, they would have to pay taxes on empty lots for about a half-century before things got going.
Promoters of supplements, holistic remedies and varied snake oils had better raw materials available that were fully legal at the time. These included marijuana, heroin and morphine. These over-the-counter remedies were promoted as follows, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." That's what folks who don't want to go to the trouble of self-managing need today - a few products that are perfect "guardians of health."
Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine. Let's face it -- consumer surveys show that people overwhelmingly prefer REAL coke.
Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic. This is a positive factor only for those in the 18 percent category, not for the servants or domestics.

On the other hand, have a look at the factors that I think give the edge to us.

Advantage 2000:

We can expect to live 76 years, more or less, depending. The average life expectancy 100 years ago was 47.
Only 14% of homes had a bathtub. Showers were not available, either.
Only 8% of homes had a telephone -- and a long distance call (from Denver to New York City lasting three minutes) cost eleven dollars.
There were only 144 miles of paved roads on which to take those 8,000 cars I mentioned earlier.
Ninety percent of physicians had no college education. They attended what the press and government viewed as substandard medical schools.
Insulin and antibiotics hadn't been discovered yet.
One in ten US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent graduated from high school.

All in all, it seems that the present offers more opportunities for living a life marked by improved conditions for optimal health than ever before, and certainly more so than was the case a century ago. Make the most of your opportunities. Choose wellness -- and be as well and engaged in life as possible.

Cheers. Look on the bright side of life. Maybe it will be even easier to live a wellness lifestyle 100 years from now, but that won't matter for you, so seize the present day.

Domain: mental
Subdomain: mental health

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