February 16, 2023 In his book, “American Exceptionalism”, Seymour Martin Lipsett wrote that “”it is impossible to understand a country without seeing how it varies from others. Those who know only one country know no country.” We ended the last blog pointing out the importance of political choices a society makes that strongly influence its health using as examples U.S.
Read moreThe new year brings new information and a new perspective on planetary health. We ended last year looking at adverse childhood experiences. This blog will begin with the latest vital signs for human health on the planet and then delve into political directions to heal the situation. In October’s blog the latest health Olympics ranking for 2021 were revealed showing
Read moreOne current use of the word trauma evolved from the study of adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) that began in the 1970s. That study[1] began at the Kaiser Permanente Clinic in San Diego where Dr. Vincent Felitti was using supervised fasting to help control rising obesity in his patients. Under clinical conditions he was able to get some patients to lose a
Read moreLet’s explore what being of low birthweight does to brain development. In my September Blog (#9) on early life I explained how conditions in your early life from conception to age two (first thousand days) are when perhaps half of your adult health is programmed. This suggests that the impact of personal health-related behaviors we practice in later life may
Read moreThis blog presents data on health, as measured by mortality rates, for those in the United States to suggest that no one in America can claim the best health possible. One of the most challenging concepts to get people to understand and accept is that their individual health is to a large part beyond an individual’s control. We believe we
Read moreSeptember 15, 2022 By Stephen Bezruchka Last month we closed the coffin lid on economic inequality. It is not good for our health, nor for the environment. What should we do with the proceeds that will come from reigning in inequality? Spend it on early life. As we go from the erection to the resurrection how we are ushered into
Read moreWith all this talk about the bad things inequality does, such as harming and killing us, I am occasionally asked what inequality is good for since we have so much of it. Is there some good in having a few people being so incredibly wealthy and the rest of us making do with the droppings that trickle down? It used
Read moreJuly 21, 2022 in PHW Vol. 8, No. 29 By Stephen Bezruchka UPSTREAM AT THE SOURCE… An allegory that has been told for many decades distinguishes upstream from downstream factors. Imagine, if you will, three people standing alongside a river on a brisk afternoon. They suddenly hear a cry for help from someone caught in the river’s fast-moving current. Our
Read moreBEZ’S BLOG #4Political Determinants of Health Credit: Hawai’i Department of HealthLast month we looked at evidence that economic inequality and social spending are the critical factors in producing health in a society. These issues make health a political construct. This is not a new idea. It was voiced by the Greeks eons ago. It appears regularly since the famous statement by
Read moreThe Ubiquitous Health Impacts of Socioeconomic Gradients June 16, 2022 much air can you blow out in one second. You can measure it non-invasively by blowing into a spirometer, a tube that measures how much air passes though in the first second. People with bigger lungs can blow out more air in one second so the number has to be
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PLANETARY HEALTH WEEKLY 