This article discusses how suicides don't just result from psychological stresses, but can also be linked to a physical stress. In this scenario, the stress is respritory problems, such as lung cancer, bronchitis and so forth, caused by air pollution. Researchers first found evidence of this in South Korea, 2004. It was then that scientists first related the poor air quality to the suicide rates of the citizens. Following that, in that same year, 4300 suicides were reported and under half of the victims were found to have some form of chronic illness, such as lung cancer and diabetes. Furthermore, the scientists also found when air pollution came into play, the suicide risk went up 9 percent within two days. And when heart diseases were added, it went up 19. However, some professors believe that these are coincidences and the two have nothing in common.
Opinion:
I find this new discovery shocking and depressing. Global warming has already taken its toll on to the world but now, even humans are being negatively affected by it. Suicides are no matter to joke about and are very serious. Enough people die everyday from natural and unnatural causes and this just adds to the list. 9 percent may not seem like much but when you put it up against several billion, the numbers total up to an enormous amount, and 19 percent is almost one out of five. I disagree with the professor. With all these statistics to prove it first hand, there definitely has to be some sort of connection between the suicide rates and air pollution. But even if there is no connection, the suicides are a sad thing to look upon.
Questions:
1.) What do you think is the difference between a psychological stress and a physical one?
2.) Is there any way to help out the victims of this horrible trend?
3.) Do you believe that there is a connection between air pollution and the suicides?
Before reading this article I already knew that South Korea had a major problem with air pollution. I was not aware that scientists were linking suicides to this environmental concern. In this article there are many statistics that could lead one to believe that there is a connection, however I'm not so sure I believe it. Maybe people are linking these two things together to persuage the country to pollute less. Suicide is a horrible thing to deal with and I know that if I heard this story in America it would interest me to see if less air pollution would lower the suicide rate. In the end, I think that suicide and air pollution are just a coincidence that scientists pointed out in South Korea.
ReplyDeleteHere's a picture of South Korea. You can clearly see the poor air quality in this picture...
http://english.chosun.com/media/photo/news/200803/200803170010_01.jpg
Opinion: I found this article to be very revealing. To see that people in South Korea are being very negatively affected by ai quality, I can not imagine what the people of China are going through. We always hear about how bad the air is in China, but not once have I heard about poor air quality in South Korea. China must be experiencing close to 7000 suicides a year with their air and substantial amount of people if South Korea is having 4300 a year. This article truly is terrible though, to find that suicide is not just phsycological, but also physical is terrible. To be a part of a family that has just learned that one of their own family members has died of suicide because of it's own country's air quality would be devestating. I would not be happy with my country if that were to of happened. Therefore, we need to sure up our planet's air that sustains us life. We do not want to see anymore suicides because of it.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Question 1: I believe that a phsychological stress is something that is all in your head. While a physical stress is something harming your body like an unrelenting cough that leads to serious breathing incapabilities.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteI am very surprised at these studies. The only suicide I am familiar with is caused by emotional issues. When I read that people allover South Korea are committing suicide because of physical ailments I was shocked. These types of suicides could easily be prevented which made it much more sad. Air pollution is a much bigger problem than most people make it out to be. When I get driven places, I think nothing of it. So much pollution is caused by just all of the burning fuel I use to travel. Now that I realize that there are many other effects of pollution other than affecting the world itself, it seems much more real. Statistics about climate change and the ozone layer do not personally connect with me. Suicide, however, reaches a much deeper level. Death is such a horrible thing, especially when one takes their own life. Hopefully air pollution will decrease at a rapid rate that will allow for suicides to decline as well.
Answer to Question 1:
I think there is a great difference between psychological stress and physical stress. Mental stress is caused by a variety of things in life such as stress, depression, anger and many other mental aspects. Physical stress is caused by ways your body is injured. However, I strongly believe that psychological stress can be caused by physical stress. If someone is diagnosed with cancer, their physical AND psychological stress would both be very high.