Sickness Benefits

I am blessed with good health. I get colds just once or twice per year, often at Christmas. This year was no exception, and only now am I emerging from the feeling of being less than 100%.

Most colds for me go the same way. The telltale sign is a sore throat, moving to headache and blocked passages, runny noses, and finally a cough. It is not too bad really. A bit like jet lag, the most annoying part is that it goes on quite a while and seems impossible to shake off.

Being sick mainly just slows me down and harms my mood. Joints ache, and simple jobs seem harder. Starting something is less tempting than moping around. My wife smartly suggested that I visit a local steam room, but I didn’t do it because the three-block trek seemed too much effort.

This time, I also consciously noticed changes in attitude and mood. An example is driving in New York City. That is never simple and always an excuse to become stressful, but normally I’m able to shrug it off, and treat the whole thing as entertainment. While sick that facility deserted me. I became nervous of other motorists and tough maneuvers, and the prospect of some journeys filled with a minor dread.

That felt like a neat microcosm of sickness generally. Our capacity is reduced a little, we are a bit slower, but mainly the sickness hits us in the head, by making us avoid tasks, see things as more difficult and take misery where we normally take pleasure. In a similar way, our view of others tends more to the glass half empty tendency.

I found it healthy to note and recall these feelings. Because I think it can help me show more understanding for others.

I started by claiming to be fairly healthy. I believe I am. But how can I judge that? There are many dimensions. The number of times per year I get sick and how much that debilitates me is just one of them.

Physically, I am weak. If I have to do heavy lifting, I mess it up and suffer. I was always one of the last picked for teams at school. I was one of the slowest at cross-country, and I remember an experiment in biology where we all measured our lung capacity, and mine was the smallest. I get tired easily, and have low physical stamina. In my career, I think this ultimately held me back, as the grueling schedule of early planes and nights in hotels took its toll. I was always in awe of those who could work on planes and go straight into an office and perform: all I could do was try to rest and recover.

Then there is tolerance for pain. On that one, I seem to be quite healthy. I never had any problem at the dentist or doctor, and if I am hurt I can get over it soon enough compared with some I observe.

What is harder to assess is whether I am prone to different ailments. I have grown a little bit overweight since turning thirty-five. I have always put that down to lack of exercise and a sweet tooth, but is there more to it than that? Can others do the same and get a different result? Is my sweet tooth a consequence of a bodily need rather than a hedonistic taste in food?

These are a few dimensions of physical health. There are just as many in mental health. Start with my mind. I seem to be blessed with above average intelligence and the sort of mind that can be put to many practical uses, at least if doing a business plan is weighed more highly than working out how to get a sofa through a door. So far, this mental agility seems to have held up, but of course one can expect a decline in later life. My Mum always claimed that I should not semi-retire, as it would affect my mental health. Only time will tell.

Then there are many sides to mental health that are harder to judge. Am I emotionally balanced? Am I prone to depression? Am I empathetic, or needy, or prone to unusual anger? Someone whose performance declines noticeably under stress? On most of these questions, I don’t really know. On all of them, I have developed coping strategies. But whether that has required more or less effort of me compared to others I have no idea.

This brings me to my point. Some of these attributes are judged more harshly than others. And in many cases this can be questioned.

It is always salutary to think back to the abuses of the past. It used to be acceptable to condemn people at birth based on lineage. Sadly there are still huge advantages for some and mountains to climb for others. Then there is discrimination based on gender, skin colour, or sexual preference. Ever so slowly, the world develops and we manage to move on from such abominations.

Next, consider disability and mental illness. It has taken my whole lifetime to give respect to people with such disadvantages. Look at old TV shows or documentaries and movies. Each time I see a reference to cripples, or lunatics, and their treatment, I am ashamed. But I also remember that I didn’t see anything wrong with it at the time. I joined in with idle talk of spastics or subnormal people, I didn’t see an issue with institutions even though my own grandmother was housed in one, and I joined the chorus of complaint at political correctness when someone tried to promote disabled Olympics or wheelchair friendly pavements.

Yet we continue to make the same mistakes, with the next generation of disrespectful assumptions.  ADHD is an instructive example. When most of us hear of a child with such issues, often from a distressed parent, our natural reaction is not supportive. Instead, we silently blame the parents for being away too often or giving a bad diet or being too protective, and compare an earlier era when an over-active child was just required to conform or suffer.

Now, there is always a balance to be struck. Good parenting does make a small difference. But the luck factor is enormous, and slowly science is helping us understand what may drive that luck. We should condemn others less, and support progress more.

But I expect over the next thirty years genomics and other branches of medical science will help us uncover all sorts of other health drivers of performance. I recently learned that a relative of mine had received a diagnosis to help explain why she is often sick. Before this, my shameful reaction had been to conclude that the relative was work-shy and should just try harder. Now I find my assumption challenged.

In the end, there will always be differences in effectiveness between us, and society has to play to its strengths to progress, not just support the challenged. However, this does not mean early condemnation of those with manageable challenges, there are often ways to compensate and create opportunities for people.

Few nowadays would support the Downton Abbey mentality that only those of good birth or appropriate gender can be trusted with certain jobs. I look forward to when other drivers of health are better understood and coping strategies developed. In the meantime I thank my relative for the timely reminder to count my blessings and to think before I condemn. I’ll try to recall how I have felt this last week, and recognize that others might feel like that, or worse, all the time.