Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin When it comes to life expectancy, Okinawa prefecture and its semi-tropical islands off Japan’s south coast have long been referenced as the benchmark location for living a long life. According to the WHO , the global trend for how long we live increased by more than six years over the first 20 years of the 21st century, with the average global life expectancy increasing from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.4 years in 2019. But in Okinawa that trend is in reverse. In 1980, it had the highest average life expectancy for both men and women, with men expected to live until at least 84 years and women averaging an amazing 90 years old. Yet in the 2020 census, it was discovered Okinawan men were living to an average age of 80.27 years and women 87.44 years. Gerontologists have long attributed those long lives to a combination of nutritious diet, regular exercise, a continued sense of purpose (known as the concept of ikigai in … [Read more...] about Live Long And Prosper: Five Countries Where People Live The Longest
Public health 101 healthy people healthy populations pdf
Are you ‘pangry’? Pandemic anger is a real mental health concern
Are we out of the woods with Covid-19? Have we reached the endemic stage? Should we adopt the mindset that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is just a part of our lives now and carry on as usual? Many people are walking around with more questions than answers as new SARS-CoV-2 viral variants emerge and case counts continue to fluctuate. Without a definitive answer as to what the next phase of the pandemic will look like, mental fatigue has set in for many during this Covid-19 limbo, as has anxiety, depression and persistent anger. “It’s been well over two years since the start of the pandemic, and of course, people are frustrated and anxious,” says Mayo Clinic Health System psychiatrist Dr Patrick Bigaouette. “When Covid-19 case counts tick back up, people are naturally nervous about whether it’s OK to go to a movie, send their child to school, or the possibility of increased Covid-related public policies. “The recurrent feeling of anxiety can be mentally fatiguing.” Research has … [Read more...] about Are you ‘pangry’? Pandemic anger is a real mental health concern
As G7 Meets, The World’s Richest Nations Water Down Aid And Climate Finance
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin As seven of the world’s wealthiest nations meet, it has been revealed that billions of dollars in aid for the poorest countries are being rerouted into climate finance, with G7 nations appearing to indulge in what amounts to a form of creative accounting with regard to their international commitments. A new report from the charity CARE shows that, rather than providing additional money to help developing nations respond to climate change as promised under international agreements, wealthy states like the U.S., Canada and France are consistently overreporting the amount of money they’re providing, while diverting money meant for other development programs. In total, CARE found that an estimated $103 billion of climate finance reported by G7 nations has simply been siphoned straight out of development aid budgets, including funds intended for health, education, gender equality and poverty alleviation. Between 2011 and … [Read more...] about As G7 Meets, The World’s Richest Nations Water Down Aid And Climate Finance
Why Finland Is So Happy (and the U.S. Is So Depressed)
For the past two years, the United Nations has ranked Finland as the world's happiest country. The U.S. has never scored in the top 10 since the index was launched in 2011, and in 2019 it plummeted to 19th. While Finland seems perennially chirpy, the U.S. is seeing growing rates of depression, drug addiction, and suicide . Here are six reasons that residents of Finland (7.1 percent of whom are immigrants, BTW) are so happy when compared with their American counterparts: 1. Finns pay higher taxes but see more results. According to the conservative think tank the Brookings Institute, Finland collects 44 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in taxes versus the 26 percent of GDP that the U.S. collected in 2015. (For comparison, Denmark collects 46 percent and Mexico 17 percent.) So taxes are relatively high in Finland, which you'd think would tend to reduce overall happiness. However, higher taxes don't seem to bother the Finns, for two reasons: … [Read more...] about Why Finland Is So Happy (and the U.S. Is So Depressed)
Escape From The U.S.: How To Move To Canada
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin How to move to Canada from the U.S.—it’s a question many people started asking as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, with Google searches for the topic “how to move to Canada” spiking . The phrase “How to become a Canadian citizen” also spiked 550% in the hour after the decision came out. This isn’t the first time this has happened. During the 2016 election, so many American were looking into how to move out of the U.S. that the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration website crashed . Canada’s appeals are obvious: the nature, the livable cities , the publicly funded health care, the diversity, the lower crime rates. Also helping drive the recent interest: Abortion is legal in Canada. But there are downsides, too. Canada’s cost of living is higher than the U.S. The taxes not for the weak-willed: The more money you make, the more income tax you will pay. And it’s colder than much of the U.S. … [Read more...] about Escape From The U.S.: How To Move To Canada