Why isn’t Life Expectancy in the United States Higher? Essay

Health status improves at each step up the income and social hierarchy. High income determines living conditions such as safe housing and ability to buy sufficient good food. The healthiest populations are those in societies which are prosperous and have an equitable distribution of wealth.

Health is very important, it give you the opportunity of have a good quality of life. A country with good health has happy citizens. However, some reports show us how Americans suffer poor health. The health of Americans is worse than the health of citizens in other wealthy countries even though the United States spends more on health care than any other country. Poor health is caused by the bad nutrition, sedentary lifestyle, stress, and busy life. At the same time, the USA is full of fast food restaurants. Also, they consume a lot of junk food, for example, they consume soda, fried food, and desserts. As a result, the American lifestyle contributes to being overweight. There are three reasons why Americans have poor health.

In America, people are changing their views on aging and the elderly. Some of the reasons that the attitudes are changing could be due to more elderly people are remaining in the work place longer, as opposed to retiring early. Riffkin (2014). And there is the fact that we baby boomers are living longer. Even though the U.S. only ranks 53rd with a life expectancy of 79. That’s an increase of one year since 2010. (“The World: Life Expectancy” 2016)

In the movie Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth, it compared the lives of four individuals, Taylor, Young, Anderson, and Turner, in different locations, race, and socioeconomic background. The scale of difference between this group of people is that it goes from financially stable and healthy individuals to individuals with lower income and poorer health. This wealth-health gradient reflects that those who have easier access to healthier lifestyles (i.e. running outside without the concern of safety) are more likely to have a higher life expectancy than those who are in living environments that are not as developed and lack healthier options of nutrition. The difference of the average life expectancy scaled down from Jim Taylor whose neighborhood had an average life expectancy of 80 years, Young’s 75.3 years,

Researcher James Levin’s “Poverty and Obesity in the U.S” from American Diabetes Association, research about the Obesity and Diabetes in Poverty counties/reigns of the United States. Levin believes poverty and obesity are linked to each other. According to Levin’s research “ People in America who live in the most poverty-dense counties are those most prone to obesity. ” . There are many reason that link poverty to obesity, but Levin believes lack of fresh food and inactivity has a huge role in chronic metabolic disease (obesity and diabetes), and cardiovascular death. People who

Apart from healthcare issue, the country has adopted the fast-moving life style, which has pushed most of our citizens to succumb to obesity as a result of fast foods. In fact, a recent report by the UN has ranked the United States as the most obese country in the world. Parramore (2012) outlines that, “Obesity is currently being considered as a national crisis in the United States and that it contributes 100,000 to 400,000 deaths per year. Statistics at the CDC and Prevention in 2010 indicate that 35.7% of the American adult is obese.” Many input trends exist in the American society, “First and foremost, people are highly used to fried foods, sugary drinks, and processed meats among others. There is also the sedentary lifestyle that has been adopted by many,” (Huffington Post, 2013). In fact, most of us love relaxing without exercise and too much television watching. These are some of the factors that contribute to obesity. The result is health complications problems such as diabetes, stroke, and heart disease just to mention but a few. These affect the longevity of life.

“At age 65, white men in the highest-income families can expect to live 3.1 years longer than white men in the lowest-income families” (Tischler 383). Life expectancies varies among racial groups due to different leading causes of death in each race and the different incomes available to a group. According to several studies, African Americans are at a greater risk of dying from heart disease than whites, while whites are at a greater risk than Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans. Large racial and ethnic disparities exist in health due to poverty rates, diet, biological differences, and location. On a greater scale, minority groups tend to have less of an income than whites, which affect the type of medical care available for them. Also, dietary habits varies among racial groups. The African American culture consists of generally fattening food dating to centuries ago and is still persistent today. A Latino diet consists of beans, grains, and other less fattening foods. However, currently many of these racial groups begin to adapt to American diets that worsen their

These disparities are obvious in some key measures of wellbeing including life expectancy, the risk for disease, and access to health care (Disparities in Health, 2015). Historically, the major factors contributing to shorter longevity and high rates of disease are overcrowding, poor sanitation and low availability of treatment facilities. However, the change of theses socioeconomic

Prior to watching the video “In sickness and in wealth”, I knew that there were many facets that played a role in why many people are sick, ill, or have a short life expediency, such as genetics, status, lifestyle, behaviors, etc. But, it was surprising to me that a country like America, who is portrayed as the “wealthiest country in the world”, and Is supposed to represent good health; and have spent so far, over a trillion dollars on health care, have such poor health. In America, according to the video, we live shorter and sicker lives than many industrialized countries, we are ranked 30 in life expediency, and that number keeps on getting higher. It makes me wonder if it's reversible or what type of the major steps as a country we have

The range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health status are known as determinants of health. Social determinants of health reflect the social factors and physical conditions of the environment in which people are born, live, learn, play, work, and age. According to Florida Public Health, Heart disease was the second leading cause of death in 2012, accounting for41, 643 deaths. The heart disease age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 populations decreased between 1990 and 2012 from 286.5 to 155.3. Heart disease was the leading cause of death among individuals 85 years or older, accounting for 30.0percent of deaths in this age group.

What is wellbeing? More often than not, the definition follows along the lines of being comfortable, healthy, and happy. With a surplus of wealth, easy access to world-class services, and a high standard of living, one would think that as a developed country America would have the health statistics to match (Merelli). While the United States has the means of wellbeing, the country has begun to experience a decrease in life expectancy. American life expectancy fell by one-tenth of a year since 2014, from 78.9 to 78.8, according to a report released by the National Center for Health Statistics (Khazan). The developed countries of Japan and the Netherlands have an average life expectancy of 83.8 and 81.7 years. Though the United States is a developed country, why is the average healthy life expectancy decreasing?

So, how is it in a country as flourished as The United States can we face such an issue? A country where we have the highest growth domestic product (Washington Post, year), a country where our athletes prove us again and again that we are on top of the world, beating record after record. After all this, how can we still be so inclined that our health is not at its’ prime game, as it should be? Has our competition with the rest of the world belittle us and blinded us with our own corners of the world. The harsh reality is that the United States lead 30th in life expectancy and our overall life expectancy is just shy of 78 years (Unnatural Causes/put publication and year for documentary citation). This has to do with the opportunities we give our citizens and their limits; limits such

Life expectancy in the human race has risen dramatically in the past century (Harris, 2009) reaching its highest level for both males and females on record (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2006). Japan currently has the longest surviving individual with a life span averaging 84 years for both men and women (World Health Organization (WHO), 2006). According to Rooney et al (2004) the term life expectancy is defined as ''the number of years that somebody can expect to live, according to statistics (p. 1084).Over the last 100 years, the expectancy of life has increased and the overall goal is to live a long and healthy life. Some social scientists have predicted that the western population has a possible life span within the range of 85-100years. Others have suggested that with medical advances humans can be expected to live beyond these ages. The longest-lived human on record was 122 years

The life expectancy is getting higher all over the world. The average world life expectancy from 2010 to 2015 is 68.5 years old; however, that from 1970 to 1975 is 58.3 years old. Basically, food supplement is a factor. Due to the advancement of transportation and agriculture technique, provisions are not the main reasons for short lives. Famines don’t break out as often as before. In addition, this phenomenon means that the medical service is much more available and affordable in most countries, and thus the death rate decreases sharply. If people can live longer and lives are not easy to disappear, the life expectancy will be higher.

The main social problem is the higher prevalence of heart disease among the poor than the non-poor. This social problem has lead me to the following research question: in the United States, how is poverty associated with the prevalence of heart disease? To answer this question I will define heart disease, why it is an issue needing our attention, and whom it specifically affects. I will then delve into the many social mechanisms that facilitate this trend and show how they all work together to create an environment in which the poor are more likely to deal with heart disease than the non-poor. The mechanisms involved are individual and institutional, meaning that they operate and would have to be addressed at either the individual or institutional level. The individual focused mechanisms include smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, factors from early in life, and mental factors. The institution focused ones include quality of healthcare and lack of access to