AIBU to think poor health in later life is a UK problem?

[BePunnyLilacCrow]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20q07w3gl9o

I just read an article about healthy life expectancy in the UK, and I find it quite sad that we are basically at the bottom of the list among the world’s richest countries. Even the US is better than the UK on average??

Life expectancy in the UK is:

Men: ~79-80 years
Women: ~83-84 years

BUT

Men spend about 19–20 years in poorer health
Women spend about 22–23 years in poorer health

I know that the UK has relatively good overall life expectancy, but that mainly means we are keeping people alive for longer. Unfortunately, those extra years are often not spent in good health. These facts are not true for wealthier parts of the UK, but even the more affluent areas still tend to have lower healthy life expectancy than many average European countries. I am curious what
people think about the contributing factors? I think:

• Weaker family/social connections (I seriously think this is a big one)
• Obviously diet + high consumption of UPFs
• Low every day
activity (again, loneliness contributes to this esp. for the elderly)

There are many reasons, but in my opinion these contribute a lot. Especially weak social life I see in the UK compared to most countries I’ve lived/been to. For example something as simple as cooking together with people, or for family gatherings etc can have a huge impact on how people eat, because you are encouraged more to home cook food in that way, rather than just get a greasy takeaway or eat out, or just get a rubbish supermarket ready meals most people have etc.

This post is not about judging anyone’s lifestyle choices. But I think we should all be concerned about this because there is no point in living longer if it’s spent in illness. And I’m saying this as someone under 30.

What do you think? How can we improve these measures and live a better life in the UK?

The lack of access to good healthcare really doesn't help.

I have a friend who desperately needs a breast reduction (she is a 32M. Yes, measured professionally by a reputable chain and a very good local bra shop) and has been refused multiple times despite having significant problems with her back, neck, ribs and constant irritation under her boobs.

She's saving up for one but she's had to significantly reduce how active she is because of them.

It’s obesity related.

We eat complete crap.

It’s absolutely not a uk problem. That article compares to just 20 countries. There are 195 countries! How can it be a uk problem?

clearly many counties- including with those 21- are more obese and have poorer diets than the uk so it can’t be that - it’s obviously more complex

It’s not fair to compare the poorer countries to the UK as there is a huge gap between us and them in many aspects.

But we can compare ourselves to other rich countries and we are doing far worse than them. So we must be doing something wrong, and I think it makes it a UK problem.

People are poorer and housing is a big part of that. Lack of social interactions & community too.

But isn’t this simplistic? What possible factor could be applicable to the uk that isn’t applicable in the rest of the word? This risks falling into a “Briton’s people are all fat and thick and lonely” and if only we had fresh markets and family dinners like the French all would be good. And that’s just not the case.

Consistent short term planning by governments. Just aiming for small targets when what we need is a long term plan to improve people’s health and wellbeing. From isolation, inactivity, poor travel infrastructure, food inequality, stress, unaffordable fitness and antisocial communal spaces discouraging exercise to NHS funding and availability. There’s no 20year plan to improve anyone’s life, which is what you need. Governments are always chasing the next election, and we all vote for whatever current issue is in the press.

But when comparisons are made, economic area to economic area, poverty and poor health outcomes are linked. In areas were poverty and poor housing are issues, so is obesity. The housing is dire in Blackpool. Landlords have been allowed to rent out HMOs that are outright health hazards.
No-one cares about the stress people are under. The houses in the area I live in a small two bedrooms. Families with three children are squashed in. My generation had three bed council houses to choose from. The SATs puts pressure on children, there's inadequate SEND provision. Stress starts from childhood in this country. Our local parks aren't pleasant to be in because of antisocial behaviour.

I personally don't do want govts interfering in what people eat etc as unlikely to be effective and they should butt out of people's lives. But areas they are responsible for such as the lack of good housing, few cycle lanes and penalising having children and family life in general through the benefits system all contributes to bad health.

Has anyone mentioned the weather/climate yet as one of the contributing factors?

I do think the breakdown in society and lack of community spirit is a bigger factor though!

The article also doesn’t speak to the trajectory. We are bringing up generations where the gym is more popular than the pub. Alcohol and smoking levels have plummeted. Health and safety and the demise of British manufacturing means far fewer people dying from work related incidents, or having their bodies and organs poisoned from back breaking work or toxic materials.

we don’t eat a fried breakfast every morning before going down the mine. We don’t spend every evening after work in the pub. We are not dropping dead from heart attacks at 55 in significant numbers. We aren’t dying in large numbers in road accidents.

You can’t even celebrate the progress, because we have to turn straight to criticising something else. It’s so weird imo

It's not surprising. We don't teach cooking or home economics in school any more so many people do not know how to cook.
Most parents work full time, leaving little time to teach their children to cook
The planning laws that allow endless fast food outlets, and housing shortages mean that some don't have cooking facilities.

Our school sport makes 50% of dcs loath sport and swear never to own a pair of trainers again.

I'm a single mum who cooks from scratch (financial necessity) and has taught ds. I also grow some of our fruit & veg, make our own bread etc.

I didnt look so dont know which other countries but
Uk weather is generally prepoorpoor. So we are build up around driving. Likewise public transport is expensive and poor.
Nhs doesnt treat all conditions. It did/doesnt recognise tsh as high until 10. Yet need around 1 for fertility. And pcos is untreated here except for fertility.
Our houses are often cold and mouldy
Perhaps there is a larger pay gap between rich and poor?
The schools are also pretty crap giving kids depression bullying etc

I think some of the issues are because gov can change nhs and schools but the person doing so doesnt need to have any knowledge at all.

we should be becoming healthier if even just from not smoking?

Bingo 🤣

you don’t seriously think if people did home economics (they do cooking lessons in school btw) they would, as a population, live a healthier old age?! Give your head a wobble

The SATs puts pressure on children, there's inadequate SEND provision. Stress starts from childhood in this country.

Parents pathologising normal anxious feelings about tests instead of helping children to manage these normal emotions is what causes SATs stress

I’m very surprised at those numbers! That literally says that women of 60 start to suffer poor health and since my two friends ran the Marathon at 64 and 67 for the first time yesterday im blown away

You’re quite correct - my macular degeneration is entirely because I’m a fattie If I lost some chubby I could
probably reverse it.

You do realise that this is at a population level not anything to do with anecdata about people you personally know?

It won't be popular, but the main issue is that people are lazy.

There are regular threads on here about how many steps people do on an average day and a scary number of people don't even manage to do 2,000 - let alone the recommended 10k. People sit down all day in front of screens, then finish work and sit on their sofas in front of a different screen, drinking wine and eating until they go to bed.

Everyone says they're tired or busy but they can manage to sit and watch hours of reality TV or doomscroll TikTok. They're not busy, they're lazy and CBA.

What a weird thing to say.

alcoholicantibiotic Yep, totally realise that. I literally know no one my age in poor health. In fact I don’t know anyone under 70 in poor health (who’s not dead)

So it’s a total surprise to me that on AVERAGE women get 22-23 years of poor health and then die at 82-84 as that means that on AVERAGE I ought to be seeing women my age start to suffer from poor health

I think the weather will be a factor: much more inspiring to get out and be active when it’s not cold and wet

the withdrawal of funding for community sports centres and swimming pools

And yes, the diet

Honestly if the OP had turned round and said that the numbers were that the last decade of life for women was spent in poor health that would have made sense to me.

A whole load of women in my book group are aged 83-92 - all have had poor health in last decade

Poor health often isn't visible for a good while - then it hits you all of a sudden.

A long healthy life requires good genes, a nutrient rich plant based diet, aerobic and weight bearing excercise, plenty of fresh unpolluted air, good hygiene, adequate warmth, access to health screening, dentistry and timely medical treatment, due care for health and safety, rest and mental stimulation, and good luck.
Rather than comparing ourselves to other countries to look for the secrets to longevity, we just need to understand these things, apply those we can on an individual level and support societal initiatives to improve the ones that apply on a collective level.