Requiem for Health – A Doctor's Perspective

The world population was 1.8 billion

Yes, that was around 1900. Life expectancy was far lower than today and the illnesses were completely different. Diphtheria, whooping cough and smallpox epidemics decimated children; tuberculosis, wound infections, etc., struck adults. Few lived to old age. There were no vaccines, no antibiotics, no anesthesia machines, and thus no meaningful surgery. Medical care meant little more than the stethoscope, bloodletting and leech therapy, spooned remedies and the comforting words of the family doctor. Diseases essentially decimated people without restraint.

The struggle for existence was intense; daily food had to be produced. Without machines this was tiring and low in productivity, so little food reached the table — as nature provided: mainly whole grains, vegetables and fruits, dairy, eggs and a small amount of meat.

The human population today approaches 8 billion

Yes, that is today’s reality. But what caused this population explosion?

The advancement of medical technology

Surgery truly began to advance in 1903 with the creation of the first modern anesthesia machine, the Roth-Dräger apparatus, which made it possible to perform surgical procedures under general anesthesia. This allowed surgeons to develop and perform real operations instead of resorting mostly to amputations.

In 1907 Heinrich Dräger is also credited with the first ventilator, the Pulmotor, soon followed by a new generation: the notorious "iron lung."

From there it was unstoppable. Continuous progress brought new diagnostic and therapeutic tools, and by the end of World War II came antibiotics and vaccines.

Thanks to these advances, the diseases that frightened our grandparents have nearly disappeared, infant mortality is very low, surgeries are more complex than ever before, and life expectancy in developed societies approaches 90 years. Unfortunately, that is not entirely our situation — I will return to this later…

It can be said that one of the main reasons for the population boom is the advancement of medical technology and broad access to it.

The progress of other technologies

The technical revolution lifted many other industries as well. Mechanization increased productivity, making sufficient food production possible for a larger population. By the last decades of the 20th century unprecedented prosperity emerged, providing clean drinking water, freedom from epidemics, abundant food, and protection from nature’s forces. Life expectancy began to rise.

This is when a hidden danger began to spread, one nobody recognized at the time: prosperity.

Those now over 60 have paid a heavy price for lifestyle changes. Their fathers hardly knew the diseases that now kill or cripple people: obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, cancers, musculoskeletal disorders, and so on.

The real killer hides in our everyday life

You no longer have to struggle so hard for everyday life. Even the poorest can get food, clean water, shelter and, of course, television. With growing comfort, the rise of television and many other reasons — for example the disappearance of neighborhood playgrounds — people have become lazier and move less. At the same time, industrial food products are abundantly available and can be consumed "without limits."

Instead of the old (and healthy) foods, processed products gained the upper hand: meat instead of grains, sweets instead of vegetables… As a result of the lack of exercise and changed eating habits the "first swallow" appears: a little extra weight, then obesity.

From my perspective, excessive calories and meat consumption, lack of exercise, and the resulting obesity and atherosclerosis are the greatest hazards — they appear "innocent" but insidiously destroy health. They trigger self-reinforcing processes that are very hard to break out of on your own. They lead to chronic illnesses from which there is no full recovery. One must suffer and fight them for a lifetime.

That is why a societal effort is needed to promote exercise and proper nutrition. Today it seems as if laziness and extra weight are envied, while regular sport and moderation are shamed: those who live healthily are a minority.

A vicious circle

The term vicious circle (Latin circulus vitiosus) — meaning a negative thing leads to further negative results and there is almost no exit from this unfavorable chain — was coined by the ancient Roman poet Horace.

The following process shows its effect on our health — I intentionally simplified it to be understandable to laypeople — it was not written for the scientific community!

1. if you don't exercise and don't pay attention to your diet, you slowly accumulate excess weight
2. obesity places a greater burden on the heart (the heart was designed for a normal body, not an obese one)
3. a overweight person quickly tires even from small amounts of activity, so they are more likely to rest and "comfort" themselves with more bites on the couch
4. this leads to further weight gain, which, by overloading the heart, becomes the "breeding ground" for heart disease
5. joints must bear increasing loads, becoming painful and deformed — this also leads to reduced movement. From here there is still a way out by changing lifestyle
6. with the slow "exhaustion" of insulin production diabetes develops, triggering a series of digestive and metabolic disorders. From this point on you can only "save what can be saved," although lifestyle changes may still prevent the worst
7. harmful substances deposit on the blood vessels — heart and vascular diseases appear, resulting in infarction, stroke, paralysis; dementia and decline commence. From this point there is no realistic chance, as the problems have passed the level of repairability

What can be done?

The ancient Greeks, considered the founders of modern medicine, and the medical systems of Eastern cultures — including the thousands-of-years-old Ayurveda (Indian medicine) and traditional Chinese medicine — all held that three things are needed to preserve health:

1. physical activity appropriate to body type
2. nutrition appropriate to body type
3. consumption of health-preserving herbs and medicinal teas

I believe these still hold true today.

Supporting the body's self-healing processes

It is extremely important to know that Nature or the Creator (each may choose according to their belief) endowed the human organism with a wonderful self-healing capacity. Think of when you badly cut your finger or suffer a bone fracture. The body's self-healing processes restore it. If a virus attacks, your immune system defends you.

Hippocrates said: "Medicus curat, natura sanat" — the doctor treats, nature heals.

It is not the medicine itself that heals, but the processes it initiates in your body. (It is worth knowing that today most medicines do not promote recovery but suppress symptoms — they do not cure, yet you may have to take them for life).

Do not underestimate the role of self-healing! If you stop your body's "self-destructive attacks" such as lack of exercise and poor diet (change your diet and gradually start exercising), healing will begin, or at least deterioration will slow or stop.

Small lifestyle changes yield huge gains for health!

The importance of access

A basic mistake in our country is that the average person's opportunities for exercise are extremely poor. There are no playgrounds, bike paths, or running tracks. Pavements and roads are full of potholes and unlit, making running or cycling dangerous; drivers are aggressive, and traveling on narrow roads can be life-threatening.

When bike lanes are built, they are done so incompetently — a few centimeters of asphalt laid on sand cracks and becomes unusable in one or two years.

Only the largest towns have swimming pools. Recently 150 billion forints were poured into hosting a representative world swimming competition, while most of the population lacks access to the basic exercise opportunities needed for their health. That money could have built 200–300 smaller pools used daily by tens of thousands.

Although we have (or will have) football stadiums galore, there are still not enough footballers — professional or amateur — because there are no masses to bring into clubs. There used to be neighborhood fields and every child played football. Everyone who could walk was taken into the street team. Some generations grew up with sport and the ball — from this large pool they drew talent that later conquered the world. With the disappearance of neighborhood fields, the background base that "produced" talents also disappeared. Methods remained the same, and many still believe that if a politician runs the club everything is fine. There will be stadiums, victories, and celebratory stews. But neither stadiums nor stews teach you how to play. Professional knowledge and methodology did not develop because of the belief that "what worked in Uncle Öcsi's time shouldn’t be changed." It is visible how the world has passed us by.

The shame that is school physical education in most schools is characterized by a lack of physical facilities. In our small town, for example, there are four larger school buildings. Two have gyms, both smaller than a handball court, i.e. not even suitable for county-level matches. There are no pools, no bike paths, no playgrounds where you could play football or even "train." Children "exercise" between desks, in classrooms or corridors, or three to four classes share a gym. It only serves to make everyone hate movement. PE teachers have no chance to hold real lessons, so they lose motivation too.

We are producing a generation that rejects exercise — indirectly producing the future patients of society!

The balance is overturned

In normal societies, stadiums are built and run by profit-oriented entrepreneurs, not the state. In one of our provincial cities the university was forced into running a stadium so that funds from educating foreigners could be siphoned into football — because football revenues alone would not cover it. This well illustrates how big the problem is with sport in our country.

The situation is similar in other sports. There are a few geniuses doing immense work under poor conditions. We must recognize: they take on self-denying labor that others cannot or will not, and from that extra work they achieve success.

In the West it is different…sports leaders cannot hide behind the exceptional achievements of a single Olympian (currently Katinka Hosszú) to claim everything is fine with sport.

Despite being one of the most obese nations (after the US, Australia and the UK), official media say nothing about the importance of proper nutrition.

Instead of exclusively supporting elite sport now, balance should be restored: many (preferably everyone) should be able to exercise, and the very best should emerge from among them.

There are places where society's health is the benchmark!

Some Western countries recognized these processes decades ago and the role of physical activity and nutrition in creating a healthy society. They created the foundations for a healthy lifestyle and conditions for mass participation in sport (bike paths, running tracks, sport-playgrounds, pools, artificial grass football pitches — not stadiums — simple sports halls).

The basis of a healthy society and prosperity is not (only) a cobbled main square and many fountains, but a healthy population. From many healthy and sport-loving people one can select and motivate elite athletes.

Go visit the neighboring country and see what I mean! Take a bike from the center of Fertőrákos and pedal to Fertőmeggyes, then around Lake Fertő. You will find a perfect, wide bike path all the way. Austrian retirees will pass you laughing and chatting at a pace that is hard to keep up with. Groups of headscarfed ladies cycle fully dressed in cycling gear. There are so many of them that cafés, restaurants and inns have sprung up alongside the bike path to serve cyclists. They ride 30–40 km for a coffee and a chat and then return.

If you can't keep up, there are plenty of rest stops and accommodations. The bike path links all the region's attractions and wineries — true tourism development...

The black mark comes when you return to the Hungarian side… it's deplorable… the best thing is to load your bike into the car because on our side the path's poor maintenance and quality make it unenjoyable. Some fool probably planned sections' renovations who apparently never cycled, since in some parts they paved the bike path with paving stones… the route doesn't lead to wineries or sights but sometimes into car traffic on the main road, which is a real "adventure" — if you survive it.

If you've tried it, you'll understand what "access" means — the possibility to ride for real enjoyment. And Austria is nowhere near the Netherlands or Denmark! In those countries you can see how they prioritize citizens' health and well-being.

What can we expect to heal?

If you've ruined your health, running to doctors, every quack and miracle cure to restore what you destroyed with a pill, an operation or a magic brew is in vain!

For many established chronic diseases such options do not exist. A medical treatment that seems successful does not mean you are healed and can continue where you left off!

It means the disease has been brought into a resting state or has somewhat improved. But it is still there in the background. If you "manufactured" the disease yourself, it will accompany you for life.

To live a long and healthy life, diseases must be prevented! The way to do this is regular physical activity from youth (not competitive sport) and proper nutrition.