The conditions of where we live, work, and play, our wealth and resources, inexorably shape our health. But how do these social forces become health? Through a variety of mechanisms, one of which is, unquestionably, our behavior.
If I am living in a dangerous unwalkable neighborhood I am less likely to exercise, and more likely to suffer from obesity and attendant heart disease. So, behavior is integrally linked to the world around us, but also itself central to our efforts to improve the health of populations.
This has never been clearer than during Covid-19. Differential early burden of Covid-19 was driven in no small part by changes in behavior. As those with resources were able to shift rapidly to working from home, they had lower risk of acquiring Covid-19, and subsequent lower burden of infection and death from the pandemic. Yet as Covid-19 progressed, prolonged social isolation became associated with harmful behaviors including use of substances, leading to a surge of poor health we will be dealing with long after the worst days of Covid-19 have passed.
Read the full post on The Turning Point.