“Health problems are both causes and consequences and result in a Catch-22 situation from which we can only escape through healthy lifestyle choices, resilience and common sense.”
In our previous newsletter we were focusing on young people and the fact that they face worsening health, economic instability, and declining well-being due to a combination of social, economic, and technological pressures, alongside with the long-term impacts of COVID-19 and government relief programs that disrupted work ethics and habits. We also described rising despair among young adults, especially Gen Z, as a result of poor job prospects, student debt, excessive screen time, sleep disruption, and broader structural changes that have eroded mental health worldwide.
These trends reflect deeper systemic problems that began years earlier thanks to modern medical and technological influences, which have weakened natural immunity. We emphasized, as we always do, that lifestyle changes—such as reduced screen use, natural supplementation, and more time outdoors—rather than conventional medical treatments are the path toward improved youth health.
This week we are digging even deeper to provide more information about the subject to show where the young generations are led by worsening physical and mental health.
Obstacles from the start
No matter where we look, it is evident that life has become filled with obstacles starting from birth. We mentioned last week the rise in the number of vaccines given till age eighteen—from just 5 in 1986 to 32 in 2025, not including the flu vaccine or COVID-19 shot—or which could be associated with lowered natural immunity and many other health problems.
One good example is the hepatitis B vaccine which is given to every newborn despite the fact that it is completely unnecessary; the vast majority of infants are at almost no risk of contracting the virus yet, because of the vaccine, they are exposed to potential harms. The vaccine has long been controversially linked to autoimmune and neurological disorders—like demyelinating diseases (e.g. Multiple Sclerosis, optic neuritis), chronic arthritis, and other immune-mediated conditions. Studies[1] have shown higher incidence of these problems among vaccinated individuals compared with unvaccinated ones.
Universal newborn vaccination has not reduced chronic hepatitis B rates among low-risk infants (those born to mothers without the virus), which means that there is no obvious public health benefit for most children, while the risk remains. Evidently, this blanket-policy approach regarding infant vaccination should be reconsidered and vaccination decisions should be individualized based on actual risk, rather than applied universally. We should note that the universal newborn vaccination for hepatitis B started in the 1990s and is now affecting multiple generations. Generations that as we showed, are cumulating the biggest amount of health issues and that are reportedly in despair.
Assisted-dying on the rise
No wonder that Maid, Canada’s assisted-dying program, became the world’s fastest growing one and is now the fifth leading cause of death in Canada. “The number of Canadians dying prematurely by “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) has risen thirteenfold since legalization. In 2016, the number of people dying in this way was 1,018. In 2022, the number was 13,241”[2] in 2024 the number was 16,499.
Health Canada clearly underestimated how many Canadians would die through MAID and how quickly the numbers would rise, reaching 5.1% of all deaths in 2024—over a decade earlier than its own recent projections and twice what it predicted just four years before. This number might eventually grow if assistance in dying gets extended to “mature minors”—the recommendation has been made a few years ago and a shocking number of “71% of people across Canada support the ability for mature minors to request and be considered for MAID, if all other criteria are met under the law.”[3]
In addition, inconsistent reporting practices across provinces and federal agencies—such as classifying the underlying illness rather than MAID as the cause of death, and Statistics Canada not counting MAID as a cause of death at all—create misrepresentations in national mortality data. This makes it much harder to study MAID trends and understand broader patterns in causes of death.
It is obvious that the mental health crisis is not going anywhere—there are more adolescents and young adults having major depressive episodes than before—and that the number of affected individuals is becoming even more blurred as alternative ways of “counselling” arise. According to a nationally representative cross-sectional study of more than 1000 English-speaking individuals (age 12-21 years) “13.1% of respondents reported using generative AI for mental health advice, with higher rates among those aged 18 to 21 years (22.2%). Among users, 65.5% sought advice monthly or more often and 92.7% found the advice somewhat or very helpful.”[4]
Where does this go, where can the combination of AI and the opioid epidemic take us? My guess is nowhere near health and well-being. Yet “well-being may have a stronger influence on cognitive aging than many clinicians recognize, according to Benjamin San Deville, MD, a clinical neuropsychologist from the CHU de Liège in Liège, Belgium.”[5] Maybe this is why memory issues, difficulty concentrating, and mental fatigue are becoming increasingly common among young adults. These cognitive problems arise gradually, driven by factors such as metabolic strain, environmental exposures, inadequate sleep, and emotional stress. According to research[6], between 2013 and 2023, self-reported cognitive disability in the U.S. increased significantly—from 5.3% to 7.4% overall—driven largely by a near doubling of prevalence among adults aged 18–39, who became the main contributors to this national rise. The pattern is widespread across all demographics, signaling a broader public health concern and suggesting that modern lifestyle pressures—constant digital stimulation, ultra-processed diets, and chronic stress—are collectively eroding mental clarity.
Rising cancer statistics
Lifestyle choices do not only affect cognitive clarity and well-being but cancer prevalence as well. According to a report Global trends in incidence, death, burden and risk factors of early-onset cancer from 1990 to 2019 “[e]arly-onset cancer morbidity continues to increase worldwide with notable variances in mortality and DALYs [disability-adjusted life years] between areas, countries, sex and cancer types. Encouraging a healthy lifestyle could reduce early-onset cancer disease burden.”[7]
What is early-onset cancer? It is defined as cancer in individuals who are less than 50 years of age (or 20–49). These findings are surprising because in the past cancer was considered the disease of the elderly. Lately, new cases of early-onset cancer rose by 79% between 1990 and 2019, and deaths from these cancers increased by nearly 28%. In 2019, early-onset breast cancer, lung-related cancers (tracheal, bronchus, and lung), stomach cancer, and colorectal cancer caused the most deaths and disability. Regions with medium to high levels of socioeconomic development (high-middle and middle Sociodemographic Index—SDI) had the greatest overall burden of early-onset cancer. The rising incidence in younger birth-cohorts definitely suggests that relative risks for cancer may be shifting downward in age. By 2030, global cases of early-onset cancer are expected to rise by another 31%, and deaths are projected to increase by 21%.
The research suggests that lifestyle related choices including diet (typical Western diet), alcohol and tobacco use are the main risk factors responsible for this sad trend. Meanwhile, on the other side, people from all over the world who have reached a very old age and are in good health eat little meat, dairy or processed foods and their diet is rich in vegetables, nuts, and tubers. Meals are mostly light and locally sourced, and daily movement (e.g. walking long distances) is part of life from early age.
Health problems are both causes and consequences and result in a Catch-22 situation from which we can only escape through healthy lifestyle choices, resilience and common sense. We need to do our best because evidently, no-one else is going to save us.
References:
- Daelen, Olivier. 2025. No Time to Die: Is Well-Being the Elixir for Healthy Aging? https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/no-time-die-well-being-elixir-healthy-aging-2025a1000vum?ecd=wnl_sci_tech_251126_MSCPEDIT_etid7905256&uac=467637CZ&impID=7905256
- Dying with Dignity Canada. 2021. Mature minors. https://www.dyingwithdignity.ca/advocacy/mature-minors/
- Jianhui, Zhao et al. 2023. Global trends in incidence, death, burden and risk factors of early-onset cancer from 1990 to 2019. https://bmjoncology.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000049
- Ka-Ho Wong et al. 2025. Rising Cognitive Disability as a Public Health Concern Among US Adults. Trends From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2013–2023. https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000214226
- McBain, Ryan K. et al. 2025. Use of Generative AI for Mental Health Advice Among US Adolescents and Young Adults. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2841067
- Raikin, Alexander. 2024. From Exceptional to Routine – The Rise of Euthanasia in Canada. https://eppc.org/publication/from-exceptional-to-routine-the-rise-of-euthanasia-in-canada/
[1] You can find 259 references here: https://media.mercola.com/PDF/References/newborn-forced-dangerous-hepatitis-b-vaccine-ref.pdf
[2] Raikin, Alexander. 2024.
[3] Dying with Dignity Canada. 2021.
[4] McBain, Ryan K. et al. 2025.
[5] Daelen, Olivier. 2025.
[6] Ka-Ho Wong et al. 2025.
[7] Jianhui, Zhao et al. 2023.