2.8 million people in the UK on long-term sick

[Pinhead]

2.8 million people in the UK on long-term sick

How many really are

[Jdsk]

2.8 million people in the UK on long-term sick

How many really are

Here's the July 2023 report from the ONS, it includes a section on data sources and quality:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlab ... 2019to2023

Jonathan

[cycle tramp]

So my question is, is this figure significant? Could it be a reflection of the poor state of cycling in the country? Is it a result of people not doing enough Michael Mosley Just One Things? Is it diet? Is it exercise? I would have thought that industrial illness and disease are far less than they were. Is it the failure of the National Health Service to achieve higher levels of health?

Any views or perspectives on this?

I'm not sure if there is any evidence to support this, but I believe as a society we're too sedimentary now. Whether we like it or not, the human body has evolved to do activity.. and rather like an engine which runs at too lower revs, by attempting to avoid physical activity places us at greater harm, both physically and mentally....
..political parties of all colours should be encouraging the populace to walk, cycle, swim and garden more.. instead we have silence from the red and orange and a dismissal of the idea from the blues..

..the other point of reference is the amount of pollution to which we are exposed, in the air, water and through our food. Again, no evidence of this but I suspect that in some cases the really complicated health issues are due to exposure of such chemicals.... indeed, things like 'sick building syndrome' have been commented on for a number of years, as has the steady rise in 'forever chemicals'.

[Nearholmer]

People feel ground-down and lacking in hope (pandemic, cost of living, polarised politics, climate change, threat of war, shocking news on every front, etc), which manifests itself in identifiable mental unwellness, low-grade self abuse like too much booze or too little exercise, and a lack of resilience to ailments.

People have to wait “forever” for medical help whatever ails them, during which time they get worse, not better.

People are too harassed and/or too poor to de-stress and look after themselves properly, so eat badly, sleep badly, and run themselves to a frazzle.

The operation of modern society, consumer-capitalism, has corroded family, religious, and other collective ties that help provide resilience.

Pollution.

It’s no surprise people are ill. And, it’s no surprise that nobody want to do the real, deep, root cause analysis, because the findings would prove that we live in literally and figuratively toxic environment. Beating peoples into work with a stick won’t make things any better, it will just multiply the unhappiness.

[JerseyJoe]

I'm surprised it's so few. If you'd asked me beforehand I'd have said 5 million was about right