When I talk with people about Chinese medicine a question often comes up: If Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are so great then how come that, in modern times, people live much longer than in ancient times when people were supposedly in tune with nature and were using natural remedies?

A good question indeed! The loyal readers following my blog have surely noticed that I spend most of my writing time on comparing ancient and modern attitudes to health – so can I get Chinese medicine out of this conundrum?

To start with, we need to answer the question and then we can move on to the business of comparing old and modern wisdom regarding health and longevity.

People live longer these days, much longer

Firstly, I can confirm that it is true,  but what is the reason for that? Well, mostly it has very little to do with modern medicine. According to most experts the improvement in lifespan is more to do with the improvement in hygiene, nutrition and living conditions. There are however two areas of modern medicine which have a fairly significant effect on the statistics of longevity- one is Antibiotics and the other is Childbirth aids: namely forceps; vacuum pump; and caesarian section. These three procedures which help babies to emerge out of the uterus have dramatically reduced mother and baby deaths at birth.

So, modern days longevity has only a little to do with modern medicine and more to do with other factors; but are people these days healthier? Well, that is of course dependent on how we define health. Longevity is one aspect, well-being is another. People in the past were physically stronger. It was simply a case of natural selection-their bodies had to be able to cope with harsh conditions. Natural selection –or survival of the fittest– is all but cancelled by modern technology and modern medicine. As a result we are producing weaker and weaker people.

Of course, I can’t think of a reasonable way to reverse this pattern, but we have to be aware of the consequences, which are that, generally speaking, humans are gradually becoming weaker and therefore more susceptible to diseases. There are a few other factors that contribute to modern health issue, mainly modern lifestyles, stress, nutrition, pollution and modern medicines.

According to Chinese medicine, a state of disease always arises from a combination of two factors: the strength of the individual constitution and the strength of the pathological factor (the cause for the disease). The stronger the constitution, the less likely it is that the pathological factor will cause a disturbance in the normal working of the body which will lead to a disease. The weaker the constitution, the more likely it is for a disease to develop; the stronger the pathological factor, the more likely it is to cause disease-and vice versa. The principle is very simple and completely accurate and I see it in my clinical work every day.

A perfect storm

Regarding Health, in modern life we are having weaker constitutions and stronger pathological factors, and therefore more illness. As mentioned earlier, in general a weaker constitution in the population is mainly due to the almost disappearance of natural selection. The pathological factor of modern life has been discussed on this website a few times so I will just mention them briefly.

  • Stress – as I have said many times before, stress is the most dangerous and underrated health hazard. It causes problems and illness on emotional, mental and physical levels. Stress in modern life, particularly in the West, is extremely common.
  • Overwork – similar to stress, and these often go together, this bad habit just seems to get worse.
  • Nutrition – although malnutrition and starvation is much rarer in modern life, the quality of food is often appalling-an abundance of rich foods, sugars, fats, and processed food that contains all sorts of suspicious chemicals-and cannot be good for anyone’s health.
  • Pollution – exposure to hazardous man-made chemicals in the food, air, water and earth are, of course, a modern life phenomenon.
  • Modern medicine – I know I put my neck on the line every time I say it but someone has to so I’ll say it again: modern medicine is great in some areas and poor and dangerous in others. Modern medicines are almost all very toxic. Of course, in some situations they need to be taken, but this doesn’t change the fact that they cause damage to our bodies. The statistics regarding how many people are ill as a result of modern medicines are mind-blowing.

Not everything was perfect, of course, regarding the pathological factors, in the old days. The main problems then were lack of food and poor living conditions. Regarding nutrition and living conditions, these were directly related with one’s wealth. As poverty used to be extremely common, so were the health problems relating to lack of nutrition and to poor living conditions. Although I think natural medicine is great, naturally some aspects of modern medicine, as mentioned earlier, would have contributed greatly to the health of people living hundreds of years ago. A simple example for that is infections caused by poor living conditions and poor hygiene and the lack of antibiotics to treat them.

Were the people of ancient times healthier and happier than the people of modern times, or was it vice versa?

As usual, I am afraid, the answer is not straightforward. People in the past were constitutionally stronger and therefore more resistant to health problems. However, their health was very much dependent on their economical circumstances and poverty was rife. Ancient medicines like Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in the East and Herbal medicine in the West are very effective and can help with most medical conditions. However, modern medicine can clearly offer treatment for some conditions which were incurable in old times. In modern times people are weaker constitutionally and therefore more susceptible to health problems. They also have to cope with many modern health hazards like stress, overwork, low quality food, chemical pollution and some aspects of modern medicine. On the other hand, poverty is much less common as are malnutrition and bad hygiene. As a consequence, modern people can live longer but during these long lives tend to be more often unwell.

Final thoughts

I would like to mention one more important thing regarding modern and ancient medicines. Modern people have one major advantage-they have both modern and ancient medicines available to them. I have absolutely no doubt that a combination of both can achieve the best results in most cases. I often cite Strokes as an example for that. People with acute Strokes should be taken to hospital. Modern medicine will do a better job in keeping them alive. However, the moment they are stable then Chinese medicine should be applied. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs will be much more effective in aiding the rehabilitation. This principle applies in different ways in many different conditions and we just need to learn to combine.

I will leave you with that thought.

Best of Health,
Dr Ilan Shahor