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Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

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Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#121
post #8

Heart attacks are similarly down 40-60%. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/well/live/coronavirus-doc... And cancer diagnoses are down by half. https://youtu.be/TWF8KLKy-I0 Of course, no, they aren’t down, it’s just that people that absolutely should be going to the hospital aren’t and they’re endangering their lives trying to avoid COVID-19. Could something similar be at play here? I laughed out loud when they sugge…

Psychologically not, but staying home is physically way less stressful which possibly makes the difference.

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#122
post #120
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Difference is you can't "hold in" a pre-term birth b/c you're afraid of covid.

But you can 'hold in' cancer?

It's not about cancer deaths, it's cancer diagnoses. Don't go to the hospital/doctor => no diagnosis

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#123
post #8

Heart attacks are similarly down 40-60%. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/well/live/coronavirus-doc... And cancer diagnoses are down by half. https://youtu.be/TWF8KLKy-I0 Of course, no, they aren’t down, it’s just that people that absolutely should be going to the hospital aren’t and they’re endangering their lives trying to avoid COVID-19. Could something similar be at play here? I laughed out loud when they sugge…

It short-sighted to look at those reductions in heart attacks and cancer and claim that they are all the result of people not going to the hospital, I'm sure for some percentage is true but there are dozens more factors likely involved: Less going out means less exposure to smog/contamination, less car accidents, less commute-caused stress, less physical confrontations with coworkers and strangers (eg thieves), more homemade food over street food, less bar fights, less weekend nightlife (eg parties) means less likelihood to get a cold (and pneumonia et al), as well as less promiscuity, you get the point, and I'm sure I'm missing a lot more possible factors on this list.

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's lots of evidence from fitness tracker companies that most people (who use fitness trackers at least) are indeed less stressed.

But fitness devices are notoriously bad at tracking stress :) I have stress measurement on both my Galaxy watch active and my phone (S8), and neither reading has any correlation with how stressed I am. Basically when I've been working out it always thinks I'm stressed because my heartrate is still high, and when I'm all stressed in work it shows the lowest possible :S I think it's just not possible to measure somethi…

Anecdotally, I can say the opposite. The algorithms seem to work on me to a reasonable extent.

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's lots of evidence from fitness tracker companies that most people (who use fitness trackers at least) are indeed less stressed.

But fitness devices are notoriously bad at tracking stress :) I have stress measurement on both my Galaxy watch active and my phone (S8), and neither reading has any correlation with how stressed I am. Basically when I've been working out it always thinks I'm stressed because my heartrate is still high, and when I'm all stressed in work it shows the lowest possible :S I think it's just not possible to measure somethi…

Not arguing your broader point, but heart rate variability is a better tracker of stress than heart rate itself, if you want to track it yourself.

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a baby is such a crucial and important event in any woman's life that a mandated pre-delivery-full-pay leave seems like a viable mandated right I would whole-heartedly support.

As an employer, why would you choose to hire women who you knew you would have to pay a mandated pre-delivery-full-pay leave to as opposed to a man without that risk?

One of the reasons I love my employer is that they offer 6 months full pay to both men and women, with the option to have up to a year off (for women this moves to basic pay, men zero) after the 6 months - if you are having or adopting a child.

This way as someone who interviews people it doesn't matter if they are men or women, you know that some will have children, some won't, but we will cope when they are away. And they will be back again. Far far more of our men and women return to work and stay with the company after having children than the UK average. I haven't personally benefitted from this (I had my kids when at another company with just 2 week paternity leave) but it makes me happy to see colleagues able to use this time to grow close to their child and also return to work rested and happy.

We also have great flexibility in working patterns that has only increased since the pandemic. Happy humans deliver great work.

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#128
post #10

Here is entirely anecdotal speculation as to why this is happening (credentials - mom of two). In the late stages of pregnancy the uterus starts preparing for birth by doing Braxton hicks contractions. The uterus flexes its muscles. They get stronger and physically push the baby down like a ping pong ball coming out of a balloon. BH contractions are also like clock ticks to pregnancy, the closer you get to delivery t…

> Late stage pregnancy mothers legitimately need less physical strain and more opportunity to take care of their bodies or the baby comes early. Keeping the same active pace of work for a few weeks in the third trimester can cost years of additional effort and suffering as a premature baby may accrue permanent damage. You are rediscovering why in traditional societies woman stop working when getting pregnant. This is…

Why should women stop working entirely after having a child? Given sufficient maternity leave, they can take care of their bodies when it is required, and then get back to work when they can.

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#129
post #96
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I actually find the notion of "patriarchy" incredibly sexist -- were not men the canaries in the coalmine -- the original victims -- for the dehumanization of capitalism? Given that women didn’t have a vote when the Industrial Age made coal mining into a primary power source, and given that marriage was seen as making the concept of rape logically impossible until 1992 in the UK [0], I disagree. Separately, I would…

> Given that women didn’t have a vote when the Industrial Age made coal mining into a primary power source, and given that marriage was seen as making the concept of rape logically impossible until 1992 in the UK [0], I disagree. I'm not following how this relates to the comment you're replying to. Are you saying that women are the original victims of capitalism? Or that capitalism was created by men? Or something el…

I’m denying the claim “were not men the canaries in the coalmine -- the original victims -- for the dehumanization of capitalism?”

Lots of men had their humanity disregarded, but women were treated worse, and that legacy continued for a very long time.

These issues still exist in some places, based on what I’ve seen reported by trans people who transition so successfully that people who knew them before the transition mistook them for their own opposite gendered siblings and treated them differently in accordance with gender stereotypes rather than by merit.

Re: Fewer premature babies born since Covid-19 lockdown

#130
post #8

Heart attacks are similarly down 40-60%. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/well/live/coronavirus-doc... And cancer diagnoses are down by half. https://youtu.be/TWF8KLKy-I0 Of course, no, they aren’t down, it’s just that people that absolutely should be going to the hospital aren’t and they’re endangering their lives trying to avoid COVID-19. Could something similar be at play here? I laughed out loud when they sugge…

So you're saying people are just pushing through heart attacks then going about their business?

It is in fact very possible to do this, a fact I found surprising. In Asimov’s biography he described having gone about his affairs for at least several weeks after a major heart attack. He thought it was indigestion I think.

This is, of course, a very bad thing for the health outcome of a patient, and it is far preferable that they get early treatment. But it is certainly quite possible to live after a heart attack.

It’s in fact a common enough phenomenon that Harvard writes articles about it: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-attack/when-heart-attac...

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