Stress And Its Influence On The Mortality Rate in Eastern Europe :: Society Eastern Europe Death Rate Essays Papers

Stress And Its Influence On The Mortality Rate in Eastern Europe Death rates are associated with many complex, multifaceted issues in every society. The world is rapidly changing politically, socially and environmentally. With the fall of communism and the subsequent, dramatic social and political changes no other region in the world exemplifies global change like Eastern Europe. Specifically, the death rates of Eastern Europe countries have been increasingly fluctuating away from the norm. This has been caused by a wide array of interesting, sometimes obscure factors. Stress is a major factor, however, it is not the primary cause, as has been argued, of the increased mortality rates in Eastern Europe. Globally, death rates have been drastically decreasing. People are living much longer with the advent of better health care and improved nutrition. The lowest morality rates are all in well-developed, industrialized countries. The Soviet Union was formally one of the most powerful and industrialized countries. It held vast resources and enormous political power. Health care and nutrition in the Soviet Union was very good as is typical of a developed, industrial nation. Further, The Soviet Union possessed so much power and influence it supported many Communist, Eastern European countries. With the fall of the Soviet Union the region underwent an extremely dramatic change. Surprisingly, the birth rate in the Eastern Europe began to fall and the death rate began to steadily increase. Stone states: Soon after the former Eastern Block nations tossed off communist rule in the late 1980s and the Soviet Union imploded, people throughout Eastern Europe began dying in droves. Life expectancy plummeted. By 1994, for example, reaching the age of 57 was enough to put Russian men on the right side of the Bell curve (2001, 1). This is truly an alarming figure. There are many explanations for these changes. By understanding the multiple explanations and factors one can begin to better comprehend the problems affecting mortality. Stress, and its subsequent effects, has been found to be one of the most lethal killers of Eastern European men. Obviously, in a region where conditions are generally poor, stress is very high. After the Soviet Union collapsed most industry and leadership in subsequent Eastern European countries collapsed, leading to these poor conditions. "On one level, the main culprit is clear: coronary heart disease" Stone 2001, 1). Many societies exhibit high degrees of stress, so why are the effects in Eastern Europe so morbid? Many people believe that Eastern European citizens feel dejected and condemned to a poor life.