Americans are suffering from a preventable health crisis
We’ve planned, engineered, and constructed a society that doesn’t fit what we are as humans. The built environment is crumbling our minds and bodies.
The human mind and body fall apart without activity.
Heart disease, cancers, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, reduced cognitive ability, increased depression, increased anxiety, and decreased social contact. We’re in a preventable health crisis.
I’m not stepping on a soapbox to talk about exercise at the gym or running marathons. Those things are fine, but our bodies are missing out on basic activity. It’s one of the trade-offs that comes with technology and innovation. It’s luxurious that we don’t really have to get up and go anywhere for hours at a time.
It’s estimated that hunter/gatherer tribes walked 10-12 miles a day. Your Fitbit goal of 10,000 steps is about 4-5 miles. But consider the dawn of the motor age, 100 years ago. Before car ownership was the norm, there were all sorts of activities baked into daily living. Even meal prep was a far cry from our current situation. Walking to the butcher, walking to the produce stand, and even the act of chopping vegetables.
Less than 50% of youth and 24% of adults get enough physical activity, according to the CDC. Sedentary behavior is rising for a large number of Americans along with serious mental and physical health consequences.
One bit of encouragement is that we don’t need to become Ironman-level athletes. The benefits of walking are phenomenal. Ditto for bicycling, which is walking on pedals.
There’s no doubt technology has dramatically improved lives. Far more people have access to clean drinking water, refrigeration, and many other basic necessities. I rarely even have to use my muscles to open canned goods anymore because almost everything in the kitchen comes in some sort of easy-open packaging. I love the technological advancements that have happened just in my lifetime.
We’ve planned, engineered, and constructed a society that doesn’t fit what we are as humans.
What worries me (and a growing number of doctors) is the effects of one specific technology, the automobile. Cars made all sorts of things possible in my lifetime that my great-grandparents couldn’t have fathomed. Personal automobiles have served me well.
But I also find myself, possibly like you, relying on a car for all sorts of errands that are less than a few miles away. Even in downtown Richmond, VA, there’s a vast network of streets that are hostile to bicycling as a form of transportation.
Every year we get bombarded with news stories about America’s crumbling infrastructure. Meanwhile, America’s infrastructure is causing humans to fall apart. For the last 100 years, several forces have directly and indirectly created a society that’s killing us slowly and suddenly. Some forces are governmental (e.g. land use regulations), while others are parental (e.g. catastrophizing outdoor adventures).
Coming soon: the healthy infrastructure documentary.
75% of all deaths in America result from just 10 causes. Just one hour of moderate activity a day can counter the effects of those 10 causes. But the car-first lay of the land is a huge obstacle to better health, because it was designed for us to sit and stay put.
Walking and bicycling is prohibited by design. For many Americans, active living—or let’s call it living—is impossible. They live way over there, work way over here, then go to church way out there, then go shopping way over here. Sitting in a car is the only viable option. (I hope I’m getting you fired up.)
As I’m interviewing people from a host of backgrounds and perspectives, I keep coming back to these two ideas:
You and I are at risk of losing our mind and body to a sedentary lifestyle that’s been forced on us.
There is a grassroots path to healthy infrastructure.
Medical professionals know what the human body needs, and infrastructure professionals block what the human body needs. A doctor prescribes daily bicycling, but the patient is unable to fill the prescription.
That’s why the link between health and infrastructure is the subject of my next documentary. The purpose is to sound an alarm, provoke critical thought, and to inspire people to band together to make their neighborhoods healthy and delightful places to live.
You might think I’m positive that infrastructure is fixable because I’m an eternal optimist. That’s true, but I’m also right. Stay tuned!