I don't think there is a day that goes by when I'm not stuck with an article in one news feed or another about how yet another source food, life, clothing, tools or fabricated environment is going to cause me cancer. At this rate, the number of things around me, in me, eaten by me or drank has some kind of cancer risk. It's actually harder to find something that isn't a carcinogen in modern life. While there's no reason to just jump off a cliff altogether, it's becoming apparent if one were to believe every new study that it's impossible not to end up with cancer at some point from something.

Interestingly, earlier generations didn't deal with chronic diseases as much and lived much worse. Cigarettes were common, alcoholism was rampant, nobody wore seat belts while driving, and kids rode their bikes without helmets all the time. Yet, life went on. There was also the aspect that most people didn't live past 60, so they didn't have time to develop many of the chronic diseases now rampant today. Diabetes, cancer, arthritis, liver problems and the whole laundry list were still present but those sicknesses didn't have the time to fully develop. As a result, they didn't contribute to statistics of mortality as much. Then along came modern medicine advancements, particularly after the 1980s. 

Now, some 45 years later, the number of people making it to their 90s is sky-high, and assisted living centers as well as dementia homes are popping up everywhere (if you haven't noticed, humans don't do so well mentally after the age 90). Yet, despite all those golden age seniors all around us, people are also dropping dead earlier than 50 or living decades of suffering due to chronic disease. So, it stands to reason something has changed in how we live that causing us to develop serious ailments more frequently. Processed food already has a long history of making people sick over time. The same goes for being exposed to carcinogens like petroleum products on a long-term basis as well. Smoking is still just as unhealthy as it was in the 1970s too. 

There are some fundamental things that do contribute to better health. Exercise, eating a ton of vegetables, restricting red meat maybe to once a month, trading fatty food for lean, unprocessed meals, and getting proper sleep every night make a huge difference in health overall. However, what I've seen over the years that makes the most difference is having an active life with as low as stress as possible. Both inactivity and chronic stress put us in the situations where things like cancer find fertile opportunity to fester. And modern work life has a ton of inactivity as well as more stress than anyone should have to deal with. 

The above said, life goes on regardless of the latest article, news story, gas-lighting of mental panic or health gossip. In fact, it goes on so well, over-population is even more of a problem now than it was 40 years ago, and that was before cancer rates and every other chronic disease was spiking up. We live, we grow, we try to propagate like every other animal on the planet, and then we get old and die. This is our role in nature. I'm not a fatalist, but I am a pragmatist. I focus on making the most of what life gives me, and then I accept when I'm done with it. I like that old poem line, "...don't go quietly into the night." Yet, we all know the night does eventually arrive sooner or later.