If society wants it, then we'll make it...

In the past few decades, the media has portrayed the ideal body type as skinny and 'in-shape'. To fit in, we feel like we must all have this ideal body image so society has now shaped to accompany this image. Nutrition and a healthy lifestyle has become more important, and many people have opted for a more active one as well. This change of social needs has led to many scientific and technological developments. These developments have aided our complex body structures such as the circulatory system, the digestive system, and the respiratory system.

A healthy died is a large part of being fit. The idea of nutrition is taking over everywhere, especially in magazines. There are articles, pictures, recipes and more that were designed to promote healthy eating. With this increase, nutrition is being analyzed scientifically as well as technologically for ways in which it can be better.

For example, scientists and manufacturers have created vitamin tablets as an additional or supplementary source of vitamins. The following picture is an example of vitamin C tablets.

The production of these large vitamins changed societal needs so that smaller vitamins were desired. Scientists then developed tablets that were smaller and easier to swallow, yet with that there came a problem: the vitamins in the tablet are tightly packed to create their small size, yet they are so tightly packed that the body cannot disintegrate and absorb the vitamins before it passes through the digestive tract. This chain reaction of the change in societal needs will create more and more openings for scientific advances.

Scientific developments involving health concerns often need a closer look at the human digestive tract. This leads to developments in technology that will allow us to discover more about our digestive system. One such technological development is a swallowable sensor. A swallowable sensor is a wireless capsule that a patient ingests that transmits information to a receiver, and aids in diagnosing digestive disorders. An example of one of these swallowable sensors is the SmartPill:

The SmartPill is swallowed by the patient the same way that a large pill would be, as it is around the same size and shape. It contains a radio transmitter and devices that measure the acidity and pressure. The time, acidity levels, and pressure levels are transmitted from the pill to a receiver as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract.

Again, a chain reaction is created where more and more technological advances develop that can help with our bodies’ systems.

In our quest to become thin, humans have turned to exercising as a way to lose the extra calories and relieve some stress as well. I think this is a great idea, after exercising I always feel great. Exercising lowers blood pressure, helps you lose weight, helps prevent breakouts, relieves stress, and can just put you in a better mood. With the increase in active lifestyles, a pair of running shoes and some workout clothes is no longer enough for many people’s exercise routines. Though some haven’t, many people have chosen the high-tech machines over just plain running on the track or outside. In today’s society, people want to burn more calories and work more muscles at the same time. So manufacturers were forced to create machines that could do just that, such as rowing machines or the elliptical. By working out on machines with a higher efficiency, humans can increase the performance of his or her respiratory system by strengthening it.

Other technological and scientific developments that affect our respiratory system are asthmatic inhalers, or a metered-dose inhalers. Today’s health and fitness craze has led to the discovery of an abundance of people and children with asthma. Since we always feel like we need to fit in, people with asthma demand a cure, or at least some medicine that will allow them to live ‘normal’ lives. The creation of the inhaler was inspirational and could effectively treat thisrespiratory disease.

So far I have discussed the societal needs that relate to healthy living, but what about the societal needs that are purely for our entertainment and our laziness? What about our “quick-fix” attitude? Or our idea that easier is always better? For many of us, our laziness far outweighs our resolve to be active. We can access so much with just a few clicks on a remote control; music, television, video games, internet, shopping, physical labour, you name it! Scientists have created more and more ways for us to exert our laziness and technology has advanced them to such a point where we expect everything to be done for us. Science can even digest our food for us to a certain extent, though the reason behind our failing digestive system may not be laziness.

Think about how much money is spent on enhancing technology such as ipods, laptops, and things such as automatic car and garage doors. Now think about how much is spent on scientific and technological developments related to internal systems. I’m sure that they are both enormous amounts but the money spent on technology for amusement is probably higher. Now take away the money spent on technology for amusement and add it to the amount that we spend on these developments related to internal systems. Imagine how much funding they would have! Of course society would still demand some funding for entertainment advances, yet think of what scientists could develop that could increase our health. Any of our societal needs are directly connected to scientific and technological developments. Therefore if our societal needs are nutrition and a healthy and active lifestyle then any of these developments would be related to our internal systems and ways in which we could improve them. If we keep heading in the direction of health rather than laziness, our world will soon be filled with amazing technology and ideas that will benefit us indescribably instead of items that will become useless to us the second a newer and ‘better’ version comes out.

Sources:

Humphries, Courtney. "Swallowable Sensor." Technology Review, MIT. September 7, 2006.

http://technologyreview.com/biomedicine/17470/?a=f

Mark, Steve. "The Truth about Vitamin Tablets." Hubpages. May 10, 2010.

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Truth-about-VItamin-Tablets

ThinkQuest. “Respiratory System.” May 10, 2010.

http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/02090/TQEnglish/respiratorysystem.htm

BioTopics. “The Human Respiratory System.” May 10, 2010.

http://www.biotopics.co.uk/humans/resyst.html