Health is an important topic, not only in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s received increasing attention over the last decade with the number of elderly people rising and pollution heightening the risk of illness. At the same time, technological innovation is improving our methods for preventing and treating health issues with the most optimistic hoping to solve the problem of death within the next few decades. Here are a few examples of where the technological development is heading:
- 3D printing is revolutionizing organ transplantation
- Robotics is improving surgeries
- AI is transforming the way we collect and analyze health data
- VR is redesigning our medical training processes
These are but a few of all the technological developments currently taking place. It’s a fast-growing market and the focus of many startups and much innovation.
Opportunities of Health
Health influences so many parts of our lives, for if we don’t have energy and don’t feel well, we are not going to be able to live life to the fullest. Our professional life, our social life, and our personal life will all be affected. So the topic of health opens up a lot of opportunities for raising our general life quality.
- Life expectancy: As our health services improve, our life expectancy will rise, making 80 the new 50. We will live longer, healthier lives, and some even predict that the babies being born now might even live forever through the help of technology.
Here is a video on longevity discussing how close we are to immortality:
- Healthier consumer habits: As we focus more on our health and more healthy options become available to us, we will consequently consider our health more when buying foods and body products. Organic food and natural products will become more widespread.
- Life balance: Health doesn’t just include our physical well-being, but also our mental well-being and our basic life quality. How we shape our work life, our family life, and our personal time will gain increased focus.
Challenges of Health
Because health is so central, the challenges surrounding the topic are too and touch upon many essential areas of our lives.
- Cyber Security: As our health data goes online, we need to be careful with how we collect and use them. It could easily land in the hands of hackers or be corrupted by viruses.
- Overpopulation: As fewer people die of illnesses and diseases, our global community will most likely grow. That raises the issues of housing, carbon emissions, food production, water supply, etc. More on that topic in this video:
- Accessibility: As of yet, many people still don’t have access to proper healthcare services. Either the infrastructure doesn’t exist or the financial means lack. Access to good health should be a human right, though, and not a question of affluence.
So the first challenge we’re facing is how to increase access to good health, while the second challenge is what we will do once everyone has access? Social, economic, cultural, and political change might be necessary to solve those challenges.
What You Can Do
People care a lot about their health and this trend will only grow. Sustainable, organic, natural, and microplastic-free is likely to become the norm sooner or later, so if you’re working on a project, keep that in mind. Also, be aware that your life will look very different than the life of your parents, simply because you’ll probably have more time available to you. Challenging the status quo on how to live your life is something we will all have to do. #beapirate and #hijacktherules 🔥
