Unnatural Causes

Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and In Wealth

Director: Larry Adelman

This film argues that life expectancy is determined by economic status. As the film goes through the lives of individuals in Louisville, Kentucky, it describes how the place where one grows up and develops affects health. In the more affluent communities towards the east, the life expectancy is higher than the poorer communities in the west. In fact, there seems to be a direct correlation between wealth and health. Life expectancy increases as health increases throughout communities. When speaking of research on people's employment, Sir Michael Marmot stated, "the lower the grade of employment the higher the risk of heart disease." He also goes on to say that there is also higher risk of every major cause of death. This means that people with high paying and high-power careers will live longer that people with low paying, low power jobs.

I would have thought that people with high power careers would be more susceptible to disease due to the stress of the job. However, this film argues that the stress of the economy weighs more on humans than any high salary career.

Why is this?

Affluent communities have the resources they need to live happy and healthy lives. There is no wondering if dinner will be on the table or fear that the electricity will be turned off in the cold winter months. When people live in poverty, they have constant stresses just like these. The stress response in the body is natural. This response produces cortisol and puts your body on alert. This can help to motivate us in specific situations. When the stress response is in constant use, the body is negatively affected. "Because of the stresses and the wear and tear on the body's systems is reflected ultimately in higher rates of disease." Constant stress puts the body into overdrive and eventually starts to cause harm.

The harm that is caused by economic stress reminds me of oppression. “Oppression is the constraint that significantly shapes a person’s life chances and sense of possibility. The constraint of being born into poverty often shapes the chances a person has. Poverty causes stress to young children all the way through adulthood, leading to the health problems faced by many poor people.

As the title infers, these causes of health and life expectancy are not natural. They are created through the environment that people live in. The question is, how do we change the inequalities that surround our communities? As a teacher in an urban area, I ask myself this question for the students in front me. Where do we begin? Here is what we need to realize about poverty.