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It’s Time to Embrace Digital Nutrition
Online consumption should be considered the next pillar of health alongside diet, exercise, and sleep
Co-authored by Hans Ringertz, MD, PhD
The leading cause of disability worldwide is not violent conflicts, car accidents, natural disasters, or even cancer — it’s mental illness. More than 300 million people, including nearly one in five Americans, suffer from clinical depression. Behavioral disorders are the third leading cause of hospitalization for adults ages 18 to 44 in the United States, and economists estimate that depression leads to an annual loss of $193 billion of income-earning potential. The suicide rate among teenage girls in the United States has more than doubled since 2007, and the rate among teenage boys has increased by 31 percent. Across the developing world, the percentage of people affected by mood disorders appears to be even higher.
These statistical increases may be attributable, in part, to better reporting procedures, a wider array of treatment options, and a reduction in the social stigma around mental illness. But these factors alone cannot fully account for the upward trends in emotional distress, self-harm, and hospitalization.
Some experts attribute this sharp rise to increasing social aggravation: family…
