I’ve long been interested in this apparent epidemic of mental health issues. Some say that there is no epidemic; it’s simply a matter of us being more aware of mental health. Others argue that the mental health of the nation really is deteriorating to an alarming degree, and I’m inclined to agree because I think we’re seeing the signs of it in the cracking of British culture. So I naturally ask myself: who’s to blame? And I’m tempted to conclude that a major aspect of fault lies with an alliance of the medical establishment and the politicians.
We’re constantly bombarded these days with ‘advice’ (for which read ‘surreptitious instruction’) on matters of diet, exercise, vigilance, and so on. We’re constantly being told that that we must eat five of these vegetables every day, that we must drink this much water every day (apparently ignoring the water we get from tea, coffee, milk, breakfast juice, fruit, vegetables, potatoes, and so on. How is one supposed to know, for example, how much water there is in a 12oz baked potato?) We must restrict our daily consumption of salt/sugar/calories/saturated fat etc to a prescribed number of grams, because if we don’t, the daily round will be made miserable and our lives substantially truncated
And then there’s the question of exercise. People under 50 must do so much of this form of exercise every week. If you’re over 50 the numbers change. If you’re over 60 you must stop doing this and do that instead. And if you’re over 70, gardening is no longer beneficial. You must do strengthening exercise instead in order to maintain muscle mass. (This is to prevent you from falling over... seriously!)
The information screen in the GP’s waiting area is crammed full of this kind of thing, and plenty more besides. It even includes a detailed exam to ensure that all these facts and figures are now learned by heart and will be acted upon. We must carry a calculator at all times, noting the nature, weight, and composition of everything we consume and reading every label assiduously.
The latest example has now appeared in the men’s toilet in my local Tesco store. Above each urinal is a notice telling each man who is just in for a pee, y’understand (quoting Billy Connolly) to check their… erm… discharge for signs of cancer. What on earth will they think of next?
Of course it’s good to eat a well balanced diet and to maintain a reasonable level of exercise. But to achieve that end it would be necessary to rein back the amount of advertising put out by manufacturers of ultra high processed and other junk food, not to mention the innumerable retail outlets selling it.
(Can you imagine the politicians allowing that, except to a limited degree in order to save face by pretending to be on the side of fitness and good health? Hardly. The purveyors of unhealthy comestibles form a major part of the free market philosophy on which we’re all now dependent. They can’t be interfered with too much or the government wouldn’t be free to witter on about economic growth and congratulate themselves in the process.)
And so the constant pressure of facts and figures and general scare tactics will continue and probably get worse, and it’s my view that the constant, pernicious descent into mild paranoia is probably a major factor in the development of mental health issues.
I could go on, but it would lead into other areas and become yet another tedious rant, so I’ll mention a couple of totally unrelated items of personal interest instead:
1. I’ve seen hardly any birds in my garden over the past two days of warm weather. Even the wood pigeons and jackdaws, which normally assail the feeding tables so voraciously, have been almost entirely absent. And most interestingly of all, I’ve seen no sparrows – normally the most numerous of the many species – all summer. That’s very unusual.
2. I saw the first of the blackberries in the hedgerows ripening today. That’s about the only nice thing I have to say. Sorry.
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