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Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer

Book by Barbara Ehrenreich · 11 quotes · Barbara Ehrenreich, Health, Animal

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Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer Quotes

“[N]o matter how much effort we expend, not everything is potentially within our control, not even our own bodies and minds. [...] The body - or, to use more cutting-edge language, the "mindbody" - is not a smooth-running machine in which each part obediently performs its tasks for the benefits of the common good. It is at best a confederation of parts - cells, tissues, even thought patterns - that may seek to advance their own agendas, whether or not they are destructive of the whole.”

Health
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“Suppose that preventive care uncovered some condition that would require agonizing treatments or sacrifices on my part - disfiguring surgery, radiation, drastic lifestyle limitations. Maybe these measures would add years to my life, but it would be a painful and depleted life that they prolonged.”

HealthWellness
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“If there is a lesson here it has to do with humility. For all our vaunted intelligence and complexity, we are not the sole authors of our destinies or of anything else. You may exercise diligently, eat a medically fashionable diet, and still die of a sting from an irritated bee. You may be a slim, toned paragon of wellness, and still a macrophage within your body may decide to throw in its lot with an incipient tumor.”

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“NK, or natural killer, cells, which, like macrophages, attack targets like microbes, do not always kill. A 2013 article reports that about half of the NK cells sit out the fight, leaving a minority of them to become what their human observers call serial killers.”

CellsFightSerial KillerNatural Killer
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“Profesorii, părinții și psihologii au observat o scădere abruptă a capacității de a păstra atenția, atât în rândul adulților, cât și al copiilor. Un studiu din 2015 a constatat că durata medie de atenție a adulților a scăzut de la 12 la 8 secunde, adică mai puțin decât poate fi atent un caras auriu.”

Barbara Ehrenreich
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“Analizând preocupările de astăzi pentru practicarea fitnessului, fără îndoială că un psihiatru de la jumătatea secolului al XX-lea ar găsi numeroase motive să suspecteze o gamă largă de tulburări mintale - masochism, narcisism, tulburare obsesiv-compulsivă - fiecare dintre acestea putând semnala necesitatea unei intervenții medicale.”

Barbara Ehrenreich
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“Neurologii au confirmat că dependența de electronice a "recalibrat" creierul uman, diminuând durata atenției, și afectând calitatea somnului. De fapt, și adulții puteau observa că li se întâmplă același lucru, după cum și eu s-au retras din lumea fizică în mesaje și postări. Termenul de "distracted parenting" a fost inventat pentru a înfățișa părintele care este atent din ce în ce mai puțin la propriul copil din cauza incapacității de a lăsa deoparte câteva ore pe zi dispozitivul electronic. Și cum ar putea să procedeze un părinte, când chiar școala solicită tot mai mult utilizarea laptopurilor și a iPad-urilor ca instrumente de învățare? Micile ecrane par a fi acaparat lumea cu totul.”

Barbara Ehrenreich
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“Inadvertently, I had stumbled across what has been called the Harvard law of animal behavior, which is related to Murphy's law: "You can have the most beautifully designed experiment with the most carefully controlled variables, and the animal will do what it damn well pleases.”

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“I smoke. It's expensive. It's also the best option. You see, I am always, always exhausted. It's a stimulant. When I am too tired to walk one more step, I can smoke and go for another hour. When I am enraged and beaten down and incapable of accomplishing one more thing, I can smoke and feel a little better, just for a minute. It is the only relaxation I am allowed.”

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“Poor whites had always had the comfort of knowing that someone was worse off and more despised than they were; racial subjugation was the ground under their feet, the rock they stood upon, even when their own situation was deteriorating. That slender assurance is shrinking.”

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