Pandemic woes do not just affect people with eroding personal economies, but those who are poor, uninsured and already chronically ill. As Jane Brody recently wrote in the New York Times, fear of a new flue pandemic is eroding into panic, with the media fueling that fear.

Her article raises an interesting issue: why is this threat overwhelming us and diverting our attention so strongly from the other threats of chronic illness “that threaten millions of lives.”

"The Slippery Slope from Fear to Panic"

Why Aren’t People Going for Improved Health?

I want to raise a question that is not often raised: why aren’t hordes of people translating their ‘fear’ or ‘panic’ into changing their habits so they can get healthier? If they did, a great deal of the economic burdens on health care could vanish and with it, the suffering of many who are ill and need caretaking by family and friends.

We writers like to think we can influence people to ‘make informed decisions,’ based on information. I say baloney. It’s not happening.

Intellectual arguments don’t cut it. Even with stats that are overwhelming, Information hasn’t stopped people from getting fat and diabetic, or parents from not loading the same diet and illness on their kids (they ought to be lynched). The high statistics about the dangers of a sedentary life go by the wayside for people of all ages.

Stress is killing us—it is the disease of the modern age. That is one statement Eastern and Western standard and alternative medical communities can agree on. It causes the body to weaken and become prone to attacks from viruses and bacterial illness and exacerbates pain.

Change is Painful.

“Change is painful,” says Dr. Bruce Frantzis, a lineage master of Taoist energy exercises such as tai chi and chi gung (qigong). “Habits are difficult to change, especially when they are accompanied by stress and anxiety. We live in a ‘no pain no gain’ culture which trains people from childhood to give 150% to every activity. It’s a productivity culture based on stress. It’s hard to retrain the body to go from habits of stress to habits of relaxation. And this is on top of a media culture that feeds instant solutions. Retraining the nerves to release stress happens slowly, over a period of time. You didn’t get stressed out in a day; and you won’t recover in a day.”

Shocking People Into Change

Naomi Klein, in her book The Shock Doctrine’ provides a different view on change. For her, root change follows events of chaos and disaster, usually for the advantage of profit. Interestingly enough, there are examples of other kinds of changes that follow on the impetus of disaster that aren’t necessarily profit motivated.

After the MAO Revolution, China found itself with an overwhelming health crisis. More than half of its former medical personnel, both Western and traditional, had been killed or had fled the crisis. Many were ill, and the crisis was exacerbated buy a population that had doubled to 800 million people.

The MAO government stabilized the crisis by telling top tai chi teachers that they must design tai chi and chi gung programs for the health of the general population. Nonemergency patients that went to hospitals with complaints about chronic illnesses were provided with ID cards and given the name of a nearby tai chi or chi gung teacher. The only way they could qualify for another doctor appointment or admittance to a hospital was to have their card stamped every day for thee months certifying they had practiced tai chi or chi gung. That program worked; chronic and viral illness was greatly reduced. (More about how China solved its medical crisis and the health benefits of chi gung can be read in the book Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body.

Maybe only a pandemic, with its attendant fear and panic, will persuade people to change their habits for the healthier.

 Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites