UK Health Continued Back...
| Illness Category | Number | | high blood pressure | 16.0 million | | asthma | 5.2 million | | ADHD and ADD | 1.0 million | | cancer | 0.5 million | | diabetes | 1.8 million | | eczema | 4.8 million | | hayfever | 10.0 million | | headache or migraine | 4.0 million | | heart problem | 2.5 million | | liver or alcohol problem | 10.0 million | | neurotic disorder | 9.8 million | | obesity | 10.0 million |
The table could be extended. It also provides no appreciation of the indirect effects of illness on other family or community members. If we add up the figures, we get 75.6 million, with a UK population of around 59 million. So there must be many sick people in at least two of the above categories!
[September 2008, NHS Direct website indicates much more migraine than we understood before, say around 10 million... Ed.]
Let's consider the figures in more detail: First assume that half the sick people are in two categories and half are in three categories. With an average of 2.5 categories, there must be about 30 million sick people (75 million divided by 2.5). That is about half the population. Now the assumption was surely too extreme, as many people will only be in one illness category. That means there may be even more people making up the 75 million total than just half the U.K. population. If the average sick person is in 2.0 illness categories, instead of 2.5, then there are 37.5 million sick and that is over 60% of the population.
It is time to step back from the figures and avoid getting lost in statistics or biased estimates. The mathematical analysis was over-simplified and the result is just a strong warning. If we had arrived at a result of 30% or 40% of the U.K. population being sick, we would have been wise to be extremely concerned. However, we didn't find that. Instead, the figure was over 60%.
Is there a role for music or meditation or both in improving the health of the U.K. public? We believe that there is an important role but that too little effort has been spent on clinical studies to give strong support to our view. Better not to expect any 'proof' yet but people who need help can simply try and see how they get on. Good health begins at home. We are On Tour.
Just a couple of tips and a more general warning: We would advise people not to learn meditation from anybody who charges money or to use a technique based on endlessly repeating a mantra or a prayer. Some so-called meditation techniques will do far more harm than good in the long term, so be very careful if you decide to go shopping for gurus!
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