Are you sick and tired?

What is killing us in North America? Heart disease, stroke and cancer.  But then when you look at low income parts of the world people are dying from heart disease and infections.  Cancer doesn't even rank in the top 10 causes of death, while in high income areas 4 out of the top 10 causes of death are cancers. So what is cancer?  Cancer is the general name for a group of more than 100 diseases. Although there are many kinds of cancer, all cancers start because abnormal cells grow out of control.(http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/what-is-cancer)  This out of control growth is mainly caused by damage to the DNA that is contained in every cell in every living thing on the planet.  Some DNA damage is genetic and would occur in any case, but most DNA damage is caused by something in the environment.  Radiation and toxins being the biggest causes.

Most of the radiation that passes through our bodies comes from the sun. It is strange that here in North America we are all concerned about skin cancer and cover up our bodies and coat our skins in chemicals that would be poisonous to consume, yet in low income parts of the world, people spend all day in the sun every day of their lives and have very very low skin cancer rates.  Radiation in the form of microwaves (cellphones, wireless communications) and other electronic sources are all around us every day. But this exposure seems to be very minimal. So personally I don't think that radiation is a chief cause of cancer in the developed world.  There are cases of nuclear radiation from damaged power plants, weapons etc that are anomalies and really don't affect the majority of cancer patients.

So that leaves toxins.  Lets start with sunscreen.  One of the major ingredients in sunscreen that is used to absorb UV radiation is benzophenone.  I looked up the MSDS (material safety data sheet) for this chemical (http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927097) and it states:

Potential Acute Health Effects: Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant, sensitizer), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation.
Potential Chronic Health Effects: Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant, sensitizer), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation
 Skin Contact: In case of contact, immediately flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes. Cover the irritated skin with an emollient. Wash clothing before reuse. Thoroughly clean shoes before reuse. Get medical attention.

So why do we slather our children in this toxin every time they go outside?  Our skin is not a solid surface, it absorbs stuff from our environment.  Especially chemicals that do not occur naturally.  Don't want sunburn? cover up with clothing or get out of the sun.

Most of the toxins that find their way into our bodies are voluntarily consumed. Everything from aspartame to prescription drugs.  A lot of poisons are in the foods we eat.  There is only so much our immune systems can do to fight off cancer cells and other disease when we hamper our bodies ability to work properly with poisons.  What really gets me is when there is a statement that a certain toxin is 'within acceptable levels'.  Really!?  So the organizations that we created to keep us safe have a threshold where they can say that this level of poison on a daily basis is acceptable, but anything over that is harmful.  I say that any exposure then is harmful and should not be in what we consume. (sorry, I can't come up with any examples right now)

So we poison ourselves on a daily basis, then rely on other toxins called pharmaceuticals to counteract these poisons, and at the same time expect our immune system to work properly swimming around in the chemical soup in our blood stream.  Then we further complicate matters by creating a stressful environment in which to live.  Did you know that when you are stressed, the body releases hormones that suppress the immune system?

All of us here in north america are stressed.  Our society is set up that way.  Stress happens whenever you take an animal out of it's natural environment and force it to live in an unnatural way.  Remove a bear from the woods and put it in an enclosed space in a zoo and it will experience stress and it may even cause it to get sick and die. Why would we humans be any different?  We live in enclosed spaces called cities and office towers. We get up when an alarm goes off (stressful), then we fight traffic to get to work (stressful).  Then we work under tight deadlines and demands from an external source (stressful) and then we get our paycheck and have to pay our bills and debts and save for our futures (stressful).  Every aspect of our day to day lives induces a stress response, releasing cortisol and epinephrine into our bloodstream, basically shutting off our immune systems.

For two years in a row, the annual stress survey commissioned by the American Psychological Association has found that about 25% of Americans are experiencing high levels of stress (rating their stress level as 8 or more on a 10-point scale), while another 50% report moderate levels of stress (a score of 4 to 7) (http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2011/March/understanding-the-stress-response)

Our immune systems can fight cancer on their own, provided we are not poisoning our systems and damaging our DNA on a daily basis, and provided we are not turning off the very system that evolved to protect us from abnormal cells in the first place.

We have separated ourselves from our natural environment and have completely lost touch with how to live in harmony with nature.  We poison the air, the water, the soil and then try to find other chemicals to counteract the chemicals that are poisoning us. We are almost in a constant state of stress and then we wonder why so many people wander around like mindless dolts.  We are exhausted and we are dying.

I came across an interesting article about an Irishman who decided to give up the trappings of modern society and live in harmony with his environment.  He's been doing it since 2008.
http://worldobserveronline.com/2013/10/04/man-lives-without-money/

I am not saying we need to give up all of the wonderful things that modern life is giving us, but I am saying that we need to find a way to alter our society so that we can live in harmony with nature in a slower paced less stressful way.  To do that we all need to become the change we desire.  It is not an easy thing to do, because in our stressed states of mind the last thing we want to do is draw attention to ourselves by being different.  Our survival instinct stress response wants us to remain hidden.

It is our choice.  Continue to live in a stressful poisonous environment and take our chances being sick and tired, or change something and live a more healthy harmonious life.

Here are some of the sources that I used to come to my conclusions.  I make broad generalizations, and make conclusions based on gut feelings.  But like the blog says, I am thinking out loud.

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/all-cancers/by-country/
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf