My last post I ended with the idea that the car creates an induced demand for health care. And I would venture to say, not just physical health care, mental health care as well. No. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have good health care of every sort. I’m not saying that if we didn’t have cars, we wouldn’t need health care. We would. I’m just suggesting that cars create an extra demand for health care.
I take Taekwondo, I’ve mentioned that before. The studio I go to is only about 2 or so miles from my home. It is realistically within walking or biking distance. Except, while there are sidewalks, part of the way, there are no contiguous sidewalks or bike lanes using the shortest route between the two places. What is between the two places is a congested road that has only gotten more congested as they have built up businesses along the road, including new medical facilities.
The other day I was sitting in my car, waiting for an opportunity to proceed along my route and frustrated that I’d just spent a week in a city that to walk two miles to something was no big deal, ok maybe a little bit of a deal, but we did it, and yet, here I couldn’t do that safely because ‘it’s more profitable to build medical facilities than it is to build sidewalks and bike lanes’.
I know, you’re thinking, ‘Wait, what? We need health care’. We do. I’m not saying we don’t I’m saying it is a very profitable business in this country and why on earth would we do something that might prevent the need for it.
But how does it become an induced or manufactured demand then, right? If we were to build more sidewalks and bike lanes that were safe to use, people might use them. They would get the exercise that the medical establishment says we should be getting but can’t get because we have to drive our cars everywhere. Then we might not need to see the doctor as much for things like achy bits because our bodies, in general function best when used, not when warehoused and shuttled. By not having those sidewalks and bike lanes, and facilities closer to where we live, we plant ourselves in our vehicles to get from one place to another for a bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, or to get to our exercise class which has also, become an induced or manufactured demand.
I have read about studies in the recent years, sadly I can’t site them for you, that indicate being outside is generally good for our mental and physical health. They also show walking is one of the best exercises we can do for our general health. And if we’re out walking and other people are out walking, we have the opportunity to meet more people and form stronger communities which have also been shown to promote good mental and physical health.
Instead, we don’t have those opportunities, so we find that we don’t feel well, we ache, we pull muscles as weekend warriors trying to get in our 150 minutes of recommended exercise in two days because it’s nearly impossible to do that during the week when we are sitting at our desks at our jobs or sitting in our vehicles, alone, in traffic. The solution we are told is to go see our doctor. The doctor runs some tests finds out you have this or that and prescribes medication and maybe tells you to get more exercise or lose weight. The medication they put you on requires you return to the doctor periodically to check that is working and not doing other damage, and if it is doing other damage, they put you on another additional medication that requires you return periodically for tests.
What they often don’t prescribe is nutritional counseling to help you identify healthier ways of eating, or counseling to help you identify different ways of doing things that might help with stress or organization or whatever is getting in the way of a healthier you. They might tell you to exercise more or suggest that if you lost weight it would help.
And that leads to the next induced or manufactured demand. The healthy living industry. The Gyms, the yoga studios, the athletic clothing and athletic gear stores, and the home gym equipment suppliers. How many of us bought home gym equipment in the last 3 or so years? A lot. Why? Because we have been told that we have to have it to stay fit, to keep the weight off, to get in our 10,000 steps, or close our rings, or whatever. And, when the covid pandemic hit all of those gyms and yoga studios and athletic facilities had to close but we have been induced to keep up all of that exercise.
And it can, in itself be a self-inducing demand. The workout, gym, exercise industry like a lot of things has a one size fits all approach. Meaning if this exercise regime works for this group of people, it should work for everyone. Except it doesn’t. And it can often backfire creating more of the problem it was supposed to solve. But the industry says this has to work, so we are induced to try harder because maybe we didn’t work out enough or sweat enough or be mindful enough.
The interesting thing about the exercise industry is it creates a manufactured demand for special clothing. Yeah. Some gyms don’t want you showing up in your tattered t-shirt, lawn mowing shorts and beaten-up tennis shoes. You’ll need to wear proper workout attire. You can of course purchase one of the t-shirts from your gym. Oh, and don’t forget your vitamins, and greens smoothy mix. Because you need these supplements since you’re working out.
And now we come to the induced or manufactured demand of the supplement industry. Again. I’m not saying there is no need for supplements at all. I am suggesting that the industry as a whole has become an induced or manufactured demand. Not specifically from the workout/exercise industry, though they do contribute. It also comes from a lack of nutritional information and understanding, and the big food industry and the food that is sold and marketed to us.
Do you feel like you’re on a wicked treadmill yet? One that doesn’t just go to nowhere but one that goes around and around like some distorted mobius strip? If you do, you’re not alone. The truth is everything is connected and when we induce a demand in one area it ultimately induces demands in other areas that induce additional demands.
The point is not to shame anyone for ‘falling for it’ or choosing one of those things or even needing some portion of it. Health care. Absolutely, there is a need. There are things that can’t be solved just by good exercise and healthy eating and companionship. They require medical intervention. You might enjoy the experience of going to a gym, or practicing yoga at a studio, or, like me, learning martial arts. That’s ok.
The point is to look at why we make that choice. Do we do it because we want to, because it is really the option that makes our life better? Or do we do it because we have no other choice, or the other choice though better for us, makes our life more difficult? If we do it because of a lack of choice or because the better for us choice makes life harder, then it’s an induced demand. And at that point the question that is worth asking is who is profiting. Who is making the money off me? And are we ok with that?
As a planet, we got where we are climatically for several reasons, many of those turn out to have been caused by induced demand. The only way we can change that is by recognizing that and deciding for ourselves if that’s really what we want and then doing what we can to change things. It won’t happen overnight. We didn’t get here overnight. It will take enough people deciding they don’t want to spend hours driving on crowded roads to get to places. It will take enough people deciding they would rather go outside and take a walk with their friends instead of plod away on a lonely treadmill in an over bright and over loud, poorly or cheaply designed gym space. It will take more people deciding they don’t need that gigantic house. Or if they do get it, maybe they don’t need to stuff it until it’s overflowing with stuff. It’s not about judgement, it’s about making a conscious choice.
Until next time. Peace.