Death and the Womenz

So they published this study about life expectancy rates in the US. There are counties in the country where life expectancy is going down in both men and women.  They talk about how it's a bigger deal that it's going down in women because for a long while now, the life expectancy of women has been going up. Okay, it's only gone down by like a YEAR in these places, but I still bet we're going to see a lot of babble about it.

Of course, they're blaming smoking and eating cake.

Look, I'm in no way going to say that smoking and obesity aren't problematic. They are.  However, I find the general blaming of them to be simplistic and dismissive. After all, there are a lot of other factors to consider as well, like how in more affluent areas, the life expectancy has stayed the same or gone up.  In the most poor counties in the country, life expectancy is going down.  In some cases, way down.

So, here are some of my theories as to why this is happening. I'm not going to site stuff because you have access to the internet too and can find it on your own if you're interested. And yes, I realize some of the things I'm going to list go hand in hand with obesity, but they can exist without it.

Life expectancy is going down in women in some parts of the US because of:

• Drugs.  In poorer counties, you have very high drug rates. We aren't talking about your safer rich people drugs either. We're talking about meth, crack, snorting paint thinner, and abuse of script drugs.
  
  Besides just the drugs themselves and the danger of overdose, being an addict leads to a whole host of life-threatening scenarios. We're talking everything from selling your body for more drugs to setting your house on fire as you try to make more meth.
  
  Add to this the fact that many people in poor regions are doing drugs as a type of self medication and you realize it's even harder to get them to stop.  Unless court ordered, most people don't even try rehab.  After all, to many of them, what is the point?
  
• Lack of any real sex education. Oh sure, we all have the stupid abstinence programs.  And those teach people . . . . that's right, why they should feel guilty for having sex.  So they don't learn any of the real facts.
  
  Which means we have people out there who think "only them gays" can get HIV, so they don't use condoms and end up with HIV.  Depending on the county, they may get help for meds. They may also not get help for them. At all.
  
  Along with HIV, we have the whole other buffet of STDs people can get from unprotected sex.  We also have the things people can get just from being plain unwashed, like UTIs.
  
• Un or misdiagnosed physical illnesses.  I would love to say this just happens in poorer areas because people lack the funds to get help, sadly, that isn't always the case. I have a relative who was sick for over 20 years before she was properly diagnosed, and she went to every clinic she could.
  
  However, I think with poorer people, especially poorer women, you'll find more of this going on. For one thing, many poor people truly do just lack the funds to get treatment.  And before you start screaming "free clinic!" at me, let's talk about free clinics.
  
  Yes, if you have a COLD, a free clinic can be great.  But if you have something serious that requires lots of testing, free clinic doesn't help you much. The testing still costs money, lots of money, and quite often, not money poor people have.
  
  Also, most of the time, people who work in free clinics are students.  You rarely actually see a doctor.  Sometimes these students are great. Sometimes they miss reading your blood tests and you end up in the hospital.
  
  Beyond that, free clinics suck.  They're always overly crowded, depressing, filled with snotty children, and the wait is often several hours.  Given all of this, anyone who is sick is going to make sure they feel on death's door before they go to one.  By then, it may be too late.
  
• Un or misdiagnosed mental illness. I think a lot of the above, yes, even the obesity and smoking, can go back to having mental issues. No, I'm not saying that "everyone who smokes is crazy." What I am saying is that people who smoke know they are putting their lives at risk, yet something about their lives sucks so much that they find the relief they get from smoking outweighs their health.
  
  The same can be said for obesity or drug use.  When you lack self esteem or have some type of mental disorder, doing the things that are healthy for you and good for you don't seem as important.  In fact, they often seem counter productive to your well being.
  
  In fact, I can bet you a lot of depressed people, when reading their life expectancy is going down, thought "oh thank GOD" to themselves. Because the idea of living any longer seems horrible to them. They probably viewed the whole prospect of dying earlier with relief . . . or perhaps even glee.  To be honest, part of me even felt that way.

Like I said, I'm not dismissing the idea of "teh smokin" and "teh fatz" as being factors in life expectancy going down, I just think there's a lot more to it than that.  If we just focus on the obvious things, the problems are never going to go away.

•