Espinosa- Summer 2015 Global Health

For the most part of my summer I spent my days in New York City, NY doing summer research with Columbia University. New York City is very different from my hometown of Austin, Texas. One of the biggest differences for me was seeing more gray skies in New York than in Austin. I am used to seeing more sunny skies in Austin and I think the air is cleaner in Austin overall.  I think people in the U.S. commonly suffer from diabetes, flu, cold, cancer, reproductive issues ( puberty starting earlier, male infertility) dementia , alzheimer, heart disease, depression, epidemiology because of lack of exercise, diet patterns, eating too much sugar, and pollution. Especially in big cities. I think the leading causes of death for Americans and all humans today is HIV/aids, malaria, cholera. In the past I think the leading causes of death were lack of clean water, food.

 

I think the lack of vitamin D In New York City contribute to a lot of smog and gray skies. Also the many factories, skycrapers, energy transformers, pollution, heat/dehydration lead to depression in the city.

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I think Americans define health by being slim. For women going to yoga means you are part of a healthy lifestyle. For American men working out, doing weights, and benches defines healthy .  French people don’t use prescription medicines as much in the USA. It is also not common for French men to workout. The guys are mostly slim and I believe that is due to the way they eat their food and the fact that they do daily exercise by walking around the city a lot. However, French people in general like to smoke and American people in general do not allow second hand smoke in most places.

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