Life Starts Kicking Your Butt From Birth

[Antisthenes]

Those are some really good questions. When ai was still working, I learned about ACE. They actually had us take a test where we got a general idea about our score. I took the test home to my husband and had him take it. His score was so high. His childhood was awful. He’s in a nursing home now. I sometimes wonder if things would have been different if he had a “normal” childhood. 

I believe that stress adds up and accumulates in the body as chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation has been linked to autoimmune diseases, heart disease, diabetes, etc. 

I agree with you that prevention should be looked at more, and that doctors should try and evaluate people in their annual physical with an ACE test and look at being proactive. It raises some very good points.

I see the trending of making stress the culprit for all of our ills, especially when it comes to women. They are trying to make a connection to many illnesses and psychological issues, including cancer, Alzheimer's, and mental illnesses. It is easy to see the connection with chronic stress and the wear and tear on the human body, but it is impossible to live in a stress free modern world,

They are also monitoring the effects of the stressors of poverty on children and adults. But again I have to ask, what came first the chicken or the egg. In cultures and villages where children are not exposed to modern lifestyles, their stress levels are  extremely low, though they live in what is considered poor and uncivilized environments. The stressors we vilify are the ones we have chosen, and pass on to our children.

As our modern society bleeds into those areas, we see the effect seeping in with it. A place where it is most evident is among the Amish and the Mennonites. We see the dangers of our modern society but we do nothing to stop what what we have started. It is like the genie that we can't put back in the bottle, and we haven't learned that you have to be careful what you wish for.

This post speaks to me. There will always be stress. Our westernized life seems to be pretty toxic. The rates of heart disease, type II diabetes and obesity is killing so many. We’d rather sit around on our asses all day rather than get out in the real world and see what’s going on. Since I retired, I am trying to get out every day. My walks and bike rides keep me sane with all the insanity going on out there. In addition, with all the stuff with COVID-19, and people being so divided over everything, it just makes the pile bigger. 

I don’t know what the answer is. Life moves so fast.

I agree with everything here. I'd like to say I have travelled most of the world and none of the cultures I experienced pay as much value to long work hours as we do and very few are willing to poison themselves with the trash Americans pass off for food. The Drive-thru certainly has made it's contribution to our chronic illness and early death. It's hard to dispute when I drive by these factories of empty caloric value with their lines wrapping endlessly around the building, day and night. As the Doobie Brothers Album cover stated, "What were once vices are now habits". If this is the greatest Country on the Planet then why isn't our experience reflecting that?