Perspectives of a Wanderer

On thing I did not bring up in “Is Man Meant for Urban Living?” is the question: Is urban Living even healthy.  It is my opinion that the general health of urban dwellers is much lower than it is for people living in smaller towns and rural areas.   There are a number of reasons I say this:

1. Pollution – There is not refuting that the pollution in urban areas is much worse than smaller towns and rural areas.  And where does that pollution go? Yes, right into our bodies.   Oh, people will say that cities are going green with more parks, but the pollution is still there.  And that is only outside.  They say that indoor are is even worse. And where do most people work in urban areas? You guessed it, in buildings.  Yes, there is pollution in rural areas, but there is, for most cases, a lot less.
2. Sedentary Lifestyle – One of the “advantages” advocates of city living tout is the various “activities” people can do.  Yes, there is a lot to do, but the majority of it is not “active”, it is sitting and watching other people.  I do not call that active.  In addition, everything is nearby or you have to drive to it.  Little exercise there.  And again, there is work.  Paper pushing for the majority of urban dwellers is not work.  Yes, people say they exercise, but that may be for one hour a day, in dirty air.   Kind of negates the possible benefits.  In rural area, much of the work is outside (especially if you live on a farm) and that is also your exercise.   Yes, there are people who work indoors in rural and small towns, but many of those people go home and do work around the yard or even tend a small (or even larger) garden.
3. Poor diet - This kind of goes with #2, but I decided to separate it.  Another of the “advantages” advocates of city living tout is the variety of foods one can eat.  Yeah tight, most of it is either fast (i.e. fat) food or, if it is more upscale, is made with rich sauces or in portions not meant for one meal.  Yes, there are restaurants in rural areas.  In fact, I have a distant cousin who runs one, but restaurant dining is much less frequent.  You cook your own food, much if you may grow or raise yourself.  I know when I cook myself; it is a lot healthier and a lot less fat.
4. My final point in this diatribe is kind of related to point #1, but it is a different type of pollution. And that is Diseases. With the close proximity of people to each other, diseases (both viral and bacteria based) spread more easily.  You see the effect of that in offices. One person comes down with something and soon it spreads to the whole office.  In addition, it seems that once one catches something, it lingers for much longer and you are liable to catch it again and again due to mutations in the strains going around.
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   This is exceptionally troubling with people talking about the Swine Flu “pandemic” going on.  It is not even flu season and this thing is spreading.   Would it spread as much is people were more spread out?  I am not a doctor, but I have a feeling the answer would be no for a couple of reason.  The first is obvious; the close proximity makes it spread faster.  The second is that, in my opinion, people are relatively healthier in rural and small town settings due to the combination of the first three points

I heard on the radio that most big cities are experiencing a resurgence of population.  This does not bode well for a large portion of the human population.   All it will take is some pandemic worse than the current Swine Flu “pandemic” to cause mass deaths.  And, with the increase global interconnection of society, this pandemic can easily spread from one urban area to another.

Yes, moving to a rural area is not a panacea and will not completely protect one from every ill that plagues urban society, but one will probably healthier in the long run.

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