Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Eat your heart out, Yank
The Boston Globe ^ | May 15, 2006

Posted on 05/16/2006 6:45:28 AM PDT by A. Pole

MEDICAL researchers recently set heads to shaking on both sides of the Atlantic with a study showing that white, middle-aged English people are much healthier than white, middle-aged Americans. The English have less cancer, less high blood pressure, less heart disease and stroke, and less diabetes. To make sure that the difference was not just the result of stiff-upper-lip Brits keeping quiet about what ails them, the researchers also examined biological data, which confirmed the disparity.

The results are so striking because there is no ready explanation for them. Yes, the English have a national health insurance system and we don't, but the gap is just as great between wealthy Englanders and their wealthy US counterparts, nearly all of whom have insurance coverage. In both countries, health relates directly to wealth, but the richest third of Americans have as much heart disease and diabetes as the poorest third of the English. The study focused on persons aged 55 to 64 and included only non-Hispanic whites, to keep health problems related to race or ethnicity from skewing the findings.

[...]

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, has prompted considerable speculation about the roots of American bad health. One theory is that it reflects the fact that Americans on average have fewer vacation days than the English, contributing to an unhealthy level of stress on this side of the Atlantic. The average American gets 12 days of vacation a year; the average British person gets 23.

[...]

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: health; life; medical; medicine
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 next last
To: Vectorian

Waste not want not. Anyway we are what we eat.

Call me Ars..ole. Can I call you Kidney?


41 posted on 05/16/2006 7:48:51 AM PDT by ExpatGator (Progressivism: A polyp on the colon politic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole
I left a miserable job back in Oct. The work wasn't bad, the manager I reported to was a f***en jerk ! He believed that vacation was on of those perks thats reserved to executive & mgt level people and mentioned it too. One time, I sent an e-mail out mentioning who was doing what while I was gone and CC'd him. I already sent an e-mail one month prior indicating the time off. There was no complaints, etc. from him. When he got the 2nd email concerning what is being done, he hit the roof. I got called into his office and was read the riot act. He then mentioned that vacation was a company benefit but it was a privilege to take when you want. He then kicked me out of his office and two days later, he called me in and mentioned that he is grudgingly granting the time off but he said that he was against the time off, he was pissed, etc. The other mgrs in the group had no problem with their people taking their vacation time.

I wonder why Americans die young from heart attacks and there is a high divorce rate. Since being in my new job, I taken several vacations and no one had a problem with me taking time off.

I think there are two items what makes our middle age people unhealthy. First, lack of time off and even with time off, our Puritan Work Ethic in a demented way looks down on those people who want time off to enjoy life. The basis is "idle hands are considered wicked". Second is our diet. With the processed food we eat along with fast food and the lack of quality time with families and home cooked meals.

>>Brits get to spend twice as much time with their
>>families and children - the family is a good thing
>>which should not come second to your work.

>Your statement will make some corporate types
angry. Americans do not need to have children
or family as it is cheaper to import next generation
of workers from the Third World countries - basic
Economics 101.
42 posted on 05/16/2006 7:49:54 AM PDT by CORedneck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: FostersExport

What are the life expectancies for the respective countries?


43 posted on 05/16/2006 7:50:24 AM PDT by ExpatGator (Progressivism: A polyp on the colon politic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole

Who ya callin' neurotic? Huh? Who? Huh? Neurotic? Huh???? Ya talkin' to me?


44 posted on 05/16/2006 7:52:39 AM PDT by ExpatGator (Progressivism: A polyp on the colon politic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Labyrinthos
There is another theory that MADD and the other guardians of the nanny state don't want you to know -- alcohol consumption. The Brits as a whole drink more, and alcohol in moderate amounts is good for the heart and probably helps to reduce stress.

I like your theory even better than mine!

Seriously, the current trend for sifting through a mixed bag of studies and statististics and calling the result "meta-research" is of very dubious value.

45 posted on 05/16/2006 7:53:15 AM PDT by prion (Yes, as a matter of fact, I AM the spelling police)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: CORedneck

If we are what we eat, then I contend that your former boss had been eating some of the aforementioned hamburgers full of a*sehole.


46 posted on 05/16/2006 7:57:25 AM PDT by FostersExport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole
"With four weeks you can have a real break."

I'm chuckling here thinking of me in earlier times and my former business associates (petrochemical engineering). We would have experienced a real psychotic break if forced on a four week vacation without our wireless laptop computer, email, and PDA. :-)

However, the long days of hard work have their reward; a very early retirement with many long years of happy and healthy leisure time with family and friends.

47 posted on 05/16/2006 8:00:51 AM PDT by Unmarked Package
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: ExpatGator

78.38 years for the UK versus 77.71 for the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy


48 posted on 05/16/2006 8:01:57 AM PDT by FostersExport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole

Yes.


49 posted on 05/16/2006 8:06:01 AM PDT by River_Wrangler (Nothing difficult is ever easy!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: ExpatGator
What are the life expectancies for the respective countries?

From http://www.aihw.gov.au/mortality/data/faqs.cfm:

Life expectancy at birth, selected countries, 2003

   Males   Females 
Rank Country  Life expectancy  Country  Life expectancy 
1 Japan  78  Japan  85 
2 Iceland  78  France  84 
3 Sweden  78  Switzerland  83 
4 Australia  78  Spain  83 
5 Switzerland  78  Australia  83 
6 Israel  78  Sweden  83 
7 Singapore  78  Italy  82 
8 Canada  78  Canada  82 
9 Italy  78  Austria  82 
10 New Zealand 77  Iceland  82
11 Norway  77  Norway  82 
12 Austria  76  Singapore  82 
13 Spain  76  Germany  82 
14 Netherlands  76 Finland  82
15 Malta  76  Belgium  82
16 France  76  Israel  82 
17 Greece  76  New Zealand  82 
18 United Kingdom  76  Netherlands  81
19 Germany  76  Greece  81 
20 Ireland   76 United Kingdom  81 
21 Denmark  75  Portugal  81 
22 Finland  75  Malta  81 
23 USA  75  Denmark  81 
24 Belgium  75  Ireland  81 
25 Portugal  74  USA  80 
26 Poland  71  Poland  79 
27 China  70  China  73 
28 Indonesia  65  Indonesia  68 
29 South Africa  48  South Africa  50 

50 posted on 05/16/2006 8:07:00 AM PDT by A. Pole (GWB believes that "guest worker" program will satisfy economy needs for cheap and plentiful labour.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole
This shouldn't come as a surprise.

I did a similar case study (admittedly using a very limited sample size) and came to the exact same conclusion. Just look at the basic differences between these two:

The British guy has the characteristics of a fairly normal, healthy middle-aged man. The American one looks terrible, has had to deal with a number of ailments over the years, and is such a certifiable loony-tune that if he were in any field other than politics he would have been consigned to a psychiatric ward years ago.

51 posted on 05/16/2006 8:07:31 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole

It's gotta be the beer -- English beer is much better than the American variety.


52 posted on 05/16/2006 8:08:51 AM PDT by Cincinatus (Omnia relinquit servare Republicam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vectorian

I have a number of British friends who fly to the US, to get treatment as Johns Hopkins or Sloan Kettering, when they have a truly serious health problem. And yes, that's even with private health care in the UK. Something about those facilities being on the cutting edge of research and being able to offer the very latest drugs and treatment modalities. Sometimes it works.


53 posted on 05/16/2006 8:09:00 AM PDT by Fairview
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: FostersExport

Thanks for the comparison.


54 posted on 05/16/2006 8:09:05 AM PDT by ExpatGator (Progressivism: A polyp on the colon politic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole
Would you rather live to be 80 in a climate where it doesn't rain 9 out of 10 days, with decent teeth, a 4 bedroom house on a half acre, 200 channels on your satellite or cable TV, a car that is too big to fit in a broom closet, a society where you can still defend yourself against intruders without ending up in prison, and a medical system where you don't have to queue up to receive life saving care.

Or, live to 85 with an umbrella permanently attached to your wrist, teeth that could frighten a wolverine, 6 TV channels (two of which are left wing propaganda mills for which you're obligated to pay a steep user fee), a car that might well fit in your average size pantry, in a culture of "don't do anything to hurt the nice young thug", and a medical rationing system right out of George Orwell.

I always enjoy visiting Britain and consider myself an anglophile, but there's more to life than longevity.

55 posted on 05/16/2006 8:09:12 AM PDT by katana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: River_Wrangler

Which one, may I ask?


56 posted on 05/16/2006 8:09:26 AM PDT by A. Pole (GWB believes that "guest worker" program will satisfy economy needs for cheap and plentiful labour.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole

I figured it would be close, and that the U.K. would have the edge if there was any. Our fatties, who are mostly poor and living off the state, have flattened our increase in life expectancy.


57 posted on 05/16/2006 8:13:05 AM PDT by ExpatGator (Progressivism: A polyp on the colon politic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: katana
a society where you can still defend yourself against intruders without ending up in prison

Hmm, maybe you are on to something. If the intruders get shot it will shorten the average life expectancy!

58 posted on 05/16/2006 8:13:31 AM PDT by A. Pole (GWB believes that "guest worker" program will satisfy economy needs for cheap and plentiful labour.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus

Aussie beer is better.


59 posted on 05/16/2006 8:13:48 AM PDT by ExpatGator (Progressivism: A polyp on the colon politic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole
Which one, may I ask?

"Ones" England and Canada.

60 posted on 05/16/2006 8:14:41 AM PDT by River_Wrangler (Nothing difficult is ever easy!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson