Anupam- The Dreamer

You must have commonly observed that the generations in older times like in 1950s to 1970s were physically more fit and active than the generations that came later. They had better immunity, better physical fitness and they were more close to the “natural way of doing things” as they were less dependent on technology. The most prominent difference that I see is that the instances of “lifestyle diseases” like blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, weak eyesight, joint pains, weakness in body, instances of heart attack etc. were lesser in the earlier generations. Is this just a coincidence or a systemic technological impact, is the question for the moment. Let’s dig deeper into this.

It is a fact that the earlier generations were more active physically than us because they had less exposure to technology. Like they had to walk long distances as bikes/cars were very very few, they rode bicycles (the middle class), manual work was more like cleaning and grinding grains, cleaning utensils, working in fields etc. The men did manual labour, whether in fields, or to rear cattles in homes, or in mills, or in workshops or factories. The level of automation was less. The women also did manual labour, in fields, at homes, in kitchens, in workplaces like small mills, village groups etc. The impact of this manually driven lifestyle was that they were physically more active, toiled hard and sweated more.

The earlier generations were also more closer to the nature in the sense that they went out in sunlight more, woke up early, ate freshly available seasonal vegetables and fruits, developed more natural immunity as they were less exposed to medicines and drugs, and their waking up and sleep cycle was according to the sun’s cycle. They were connected to the nature, hence their activities and lifestyle was more aligned to that.

Now, contrast our generation’s lifestyle with them. We don’t want to walk because we have motorbikes/cars etc. We don’t want to do any manual labour– because we have maids for cooking, cleaning and washing utensils, gardeners to look after our plants and workers to do all other random stuff. We don’t need to wash our clothes by hand as we have washing machines, we don’t have to grind grains in chakkis by ourselves. We have advanced gadgets like grinders, mixers, dish-washers, refrigerators to prevent our manual labour. Even in workplaces, barring a few factories like manufacturing industries and blue-collar jobs, most jobs in service sector are more dependent on use of mental labour than physical labour. We continue to sit in front of computer screens for long hours in the AC, so we don’t need to sweat anymore.

We find more comfort in living a sedentary lifestyle in our homes and offices, away from the sunlight, we like munching junk food and working late till night, all of which is against the nature. We eat non-seasonal frozen vegetables and fruits, exotic imported fruits which do not suit the local nature, ready-to-eat food laden with preservatives and chemicals, have more salt sugar and oil. On top of this, the unwanted effect of the use of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides has become the bane of our generations. The water is often unclean, polluted, scarce. The air quality has deteriorated in the cities. The soil is getting polluted day by day, due to chemical usage in agriculture and industries. We have come so much away from the nature and natural things that lifestyle diseases should not come as surprise to us.

We have invited blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, heart diseases by our sedentary lifestyles. We have invited all types of physical weakness by remaining inactive. Even little children are now getting such diseases! We have forgotten what it means to be fit physically and mentally. The air, water, soil pollution etc also accentuates the existing problems. Our food habits are giving open invitation to the diseases. Some people indulge in heavy smoking, drinks, drugs, tobacco, ganja etc. because they seek pleasure over a healthy life.

If technology-driven society is taking us away from basic things in life like good physical and mental health, then we must ponder what is the use of such technology? We have virtually becomes slaves of technology when we actually wanted to become its masters! Most damage has already been done! We cannot go back fully to the manual-driven lifestyle of yesteryears if even we want to.

Now, we have only one choice- either to be a slave of technology and wait for the unavoidable diseases to creep in our lives, or to take a tough stand and try to enslave the technology by being more closer to the natural way of life if we want to remain disease-free! Technology cannot be driven away from our lives completely, and that is a hard fact that we have to accept, however reluctantly. Some lifestyle diseases are the side-effects of this so called modern, tech-savvy and autonomous lifestyle. But, with our efforts we can try and minimize the adverse impacts of technology on the human physiology and psychology.

May God bless us all 😀