Draftophobia: Blown Away by the Fear of Air
And
You Have What? Mysterious Illness in
Germany
Intro
Normalerweise,
these articles are an unfair, if Lustig, stereotype of Germans. This particular
one, however, may carry more weight than usual. According to multiple firsthand
accounts, the opinion that a draft will cause one to become sick seems fairly accepted
and widespread in Germany. The phrase “Es Zieht” or “it draws” is commonly
heard in response to an open window. Even the medical professionals reportedly
back this theory.
Remember This? - Bloodletting
For
over 2,000 years, bloodletting was the staple of “modern" medicine. Medical
professionals were SURE that most diseases were caused by an imbalance of the vier bodily humors (blut being one of them) and that draining blood would help
return the humors to balance and the patient to health.
Superstitions
like these are reinforced when a person treated in this manner makes a
recovery. Heute we verstehen that bloodletting has no positive effect on any disease
(save perhaps slightly and temporarily lowering blood pressure) and, if
anything, would weaken a person to pathogens and other diseases.
And It’s Still Happening
Similarly reinforcing, a German may come to America and experience for the first time open Fenster and draft. This German may also become sick for the first time in
years at which point the superstition is reinforced.
Alternately,
we fortunate, enlightened few understand that this new sickness is more likely
the result of any of the hundred more realistic causes: first exposure to new allergy,
contact with new pathogen strand, stress-induced compromised immune function,
ect.
The
subject of Draftophobia intersects with that of alternative medicine. I could wirklich schreibe ein Buch on the subject. The amount of ignorance is frustrating. My sister
(a registered nurse of all people) uses a machine called Truerife, claimed to
cure any disease by shaking the disease-causing pathogens apart, even conditions that aren't
caused by pathogens, like arthritis.
Circulatory Collapse
The
second article covers German’s “circulatory
collapse,” a transliteration to describe the symptoms of light headedness or
weakness. In Germany though, these symptoms are defined as a disease and called Kreislaufzusammenbruch. This is not to be confused the life threatening
condition, auch heißt Circulatory Collapse, which is literally a failure to move
blood through the arteries or veins. Germans often miss Arbeit for their mild,
common cases of Kreislaufzusammenbruch.
Modern Medicine – Some
pros and cons
The modern medicine we know today doesn't always get it right. Wirklich, it is
a overall blessing upon humankind and has resulted in the average increased life
expectancy of the human population, perhaps to a fault. But, it is still common
practice to treat many symptoms without looking for root causes. We still don’t
understand the cause of many diseases and therefore classify symptoms as diseases and treat them instead.
I’ll end the rant mit was ich hoffe ist a thought provoking question: If evolutionists are correct
about “survival of the fittest” driving a population to evolve, what does
modern medicine mean for the fitness of the human population?
P.S.
I have to add that in Korea, most of the people I met held the belief that sleeping with a fan on in the room would result in suffocation.
The only shred of truth I could attribute to either of these theories is that if
man sleeps with a fan or breeze directed over there face, it CAN cause your sinuses and the back of your throat to dry out while sleeping which will result in a sore throat upon waking.
JeSt
