Make Our Communities Healthier Again—Inspiring Remedies to the Chronic Illness Crisis
What if the negative news overload on America’s chronic illness crisis isn’t the full story? We have the solutions to make America healthier again.
More than half of children in the US have a chronic illness, cancer rates are skyrocketing, and the loneliness epidemic carries health risks as deadly as smoking. Yet what if the negative news overload on America’s chronic illness crisis isn’t the full story?
We have the solutions to make America healthier again.
At PEERS and WantToKnow.info, we’ve documented countless stories and news articles that prove human creativity has already developed the tools necessary to transform our health for the better.
Most importantly, these solutions can unite us across our differences in the face of the political polarization exacerbated by the upcoming election. When we can think and feel well together, that’s a double win for the common good. Let’s explore the possibilities already in motion!
Social and Green Prescriptions
The average American today spends nearly 90 percent of their time indoors.
Getting to the bottom of America’s health crisis requires more than traditional drugs and therapies. A transformative movement is gaining momentum: social prescriptions. All over the country, healthcare practitioners, doctors, universities and insurance providers are connecting patients to a wide range of non-clinical services that boost well-being and community. Social prescriptions practice has already been adopted in more than 20 other countries, and it’s proved to be effective in reducing doctor visits and hospital admissions.
These prescriptions are changing the game and building deep community, with patients reporting lower rates of pain, addiction, criminal behaviors, and depression. Older adults are more likely to have better memory, life satisfaction, and overall experiences of aging.
Social prescriptions include vouchers for the local farmer’s market, dance classes, glassblowing workshops, concerts, museum exhibitions and other cultural-social activities. An older man was diagnosed with depression after his wife died. Through social prescribing, he was connected with a fishing rod and a fishing buddy. It didn't take long for him to get off his medication and build deep friendships in his community.
"Green prescriptions” connect people with nature through hiking, walking, gardening, and outdoor recreational activities. In New Zealand, green prescriptions have become a formal part of the healthcare system. Over 4,000 green prescriptions have been written by over 10,000 physicians in all 10 provinces of Canada.
Building Community to Heal the Loneliness Crisis
Japan and the UK have appointed a Minister of Loneliness to address the global loneliness epidemic, where loneliness can significantly increase risks of heart disease, stroke, dementia, and premature death. Yet all around the globe, people are reviving community and forging deep connections amid the loneliness crisis.
The Offline Club is a cafe in Amsterdam that encourages people to unplug from their digital lives and nurture moments of quiet introspection, spontaneous conversations with strangers, creative pursuits like reading and art projects, and more. “Umuganda,” a Kinyarwanda term meaning “coming together in common purpose,” is a powerful monthly event where Rwandans from across the country gather together to engage in community projects together. These monthly gatherings have played a vital role in helping the community heal and rebuild after the devastating genocide.
In a unique movement that began in 2017, residents in Paris have created the République des Hyper Voisins, or Republic of Super Neighbors, where community members gather for shared meals, skills exchange, mutual support, and public space clean-ups. One of their shared meals consisted of a 700 ft long banquet table on an inner city street, with over 600 chairs and home cooked food. A man who runs a cafe in the area said: “I’d never seen anything like it before … It felt like the street belonged to me, to all of us."
The Library of Things movement brings people together to share their resources with each other—from tools, technology, a teaching kitchen, science equipment, and other items that many people only need for a single use or can't afford. Shareable, a nonprofit news and action hub promoting people-powered solutions for the common good, has put together 300 guides to help communities thrive through sharing networks.
The time banking movement is a social initiative where people exchange services based on the time spent helping each other—from helping people file their taxes, repairing a roof, keeping someone company, babysitting, offering musical lessons or legal advice, and so much more. By valuing all types of work equally, time banking fosters deep collaboration and community building.
Five core principles ... guide time banks to this day: First, everyone has something to contribute. Second, valuing volunteering as “work.” Third, reciprocity or a “pay-it-forward” ethos. Fourth, community building, and fifth, mutual accountability and respect. Many years ago, a woman ... said to [civil rights lawyer] Edgar Cahn, ‘I have nothing to give.’ Edgar Cahn listened and finally responded, ‘You have love to give.’ And the whole room just went silent. — Excerpt from "Banking the Most Valuable Currency: Time"
Regenerative Agriculture, Organic Food and the Planetary Health Diet
Conventional industrial agriculture has given corporate forces immense power over our food system, leading to widespread ecosystem degradation through practices that prioritize short-term profits over long-term sustainability. Yet regenerative agriculture offers a transformative alternative by empowering local communities, enhancing biodiversity, and restoring soil health. French farmers are even being paid to go organic by the government as part of a larger effort to clean up water pollution.
Specifically related to health, regenerative agriculture produces significantly more nutritious food than conventional farming methods, which often rely on toxic fertilizers and pesticides that compromise soil health and deplete the nutritional quality of crops.
Food isn’t just a source of energy. It’s medicine that can be just as effective as certain drugs in healing diseases and illnesses. However, toxic chemicals in our food are linked to devastating chronic diseases, irreversible consequences for children’s health, and major environmental destruction. Meanwhile, billions of pounds of pesticides are used each year on our food despite their use being identified as a cancer risk comparable to smoking.
The organic food movement is a game-changing remedy to start addressing our health crisis. Studies show that toxic pesticide levels dropped by 60% after eating an organic diet for just one week. Organic food is also linked to significantly lower cancer risk and is effective in treating and reducing the severity of autism in children.
The planetary health diet is a growing movement centered around foods rich in plants, focusing on sustainable eating practices that promote both human health and the health of our planet. Studies show that this “diet” can significantly reduce chances of dying from premature deaths, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, lung disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
German hospitals are now serving the planetary health diet, where patients praise the meals and even become inspired to cook more vegetables at home. In a historic moment in Denmark, the Danish government launched the world’s first national action plan to promote plant-based diets.
Other Inspiring Health News
The world is good because it gives us all we need to create from it and with it. And, abiding in gratitude for that gift, we naturally desire to give in turn. We naturally desire to add our own creativity to creation, to make the world even more good, more alive, and more beautiful. And when I know that the world is good, I am not afraid.
– Charles Eisenstein
For seven consecutive years, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world. Not surprisingly, Finland has one of the most robust welfare systems in the world. In 2021, this Nordic nation invested 24% of its gross domestic product in social protection, the highest among all OECD countries that year. Healthcare and education are free for all residents, extending up to the Ph.D. level.
Here's what we're also inspired by:
California becomes the first state to ban 4 food additives linked to disease
The secret to why exercise is so good for mental health? 'Hope molecules'
The Running Program That's Pulled 13,000 Out of Homelessness
Harvard Study: Clearing Your Mind Affects Your Genes And Can Lower Your Blood Pressure
A daycare built a ‘forest floor’, and it changed kids’ immune systems
Don't forget to check out our other inspirational categories, which remind us of humanity's innate goodness, creativity, and collective power. Explore our comprehensive categories of inspiring news article summaries:
The Power of Art
Healing Social Division and Polarization
Healing Our Bodies
Healing Our Earth
Microplastic Solutions
Healing the War Machine
Reimagining the Economy
Reimagining the Education System
Repairing Our Criminal Justice System
Ending Human Trafficking
Technology for Good
Animal Wonders
Amazing Seniors
People with Disabilities
Overcoming Odds: Powerful Human Stories
Near-Death Experiences
Mysterious Explorations Into the Nature of Reality
The Potential of Psychedelic Medicine
We've also created our PEERS Inspiring Action music playlist, consisting of conscious, powerful lyrics about awakening to human suffering, opening up to love and joy, engaging in personal growth, and making the world a better place. (We're currently making a PEERS Meditative Playlist too!)
We hope you enjoy some of the core remedies that we see as vital in healing America’s chronic illness crisis! Let us know what you do to stay healthy and sane during these challenging times. We're all in this together.