Over the past century, science has made some mind-numbing advancements in the field of healthcare and increasing the human life span. Life expectancy across the globe has doubled to more than 70 years, and each year, life expectancy at birth increases by four months.
This marked increase in life expectancy is primarily a contribution of reduced child mortality, improved lifestyles and living standards, healthcare and medical advancements and improved literacy rates. The scientific advancements in developing vaccines and innovating immunology have remained instrumental in improving the treatments for chronic disease.
What is the course for the future?
Pharmacological advancements in treatments have increased life expectancy after fighting for various chronic ailments, however, the expenses of healthcare are constantly increasing. In the future, researchers believe that prevention of diseases is going to the most innovative aspect of research, which will garner contributions from various fields, such as biology, chemistry, medicine, physiology and primarily, physics.
Physics and its innovative advancements have played a powerful role in innovating healthcare, for instance the advent of imaging technology, such as PET, MRI and CT scans. Similarly, the lectures of Erwin Schrödinger, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, had a detrimental influence on molecular biology and its advancements.
In order to promote the developments for disease preventions, we must understand the changes that occur within human cells, and develop advanced technologies that can repair or reverse these cellular changes. Naturally, physics will play a detrimental role in repairing human cells with non-invasive technologies.
Non-Invasive Technologies & Modern Healthcare
The invention of ultrasound waves and magnetic fields have facilitated the advent of imaging technology, and in the US, the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation for treating depression has already been approved. This procedure allows the treatment of depression by using a magnetic pulse to target certain parts of the brain.
Experts believe that ultrasounds waves will play a detrimental role in preventing disease, and the innovation of high-intensity ultrasound has been proposed as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, prostate cancer and even depression.
Even though these approaches are not been used all over the globe, there is still need for sufficient evidence to prove whether non-invasive techniques can aid in treating certain bodily and mental conditions, along with preventing certain ailments in the future. There is a need for further sensitive imaging to identify early changes, along with non-invasive prevention strategies to increase the healthy life span by at least 10 years.
Cryptochrome protein has been by far the most remarkable discovery in this field, and it is basically a light receptor present in the eye of certain migratory birds that allow them to identify the magnetic fields of the earth and assist in their migration patterns. This is just one example of the potential of an interaction between the magnetic fields of the earth and biological processes of the body. In order to apply this interaction towards medicinal science, we must grasp a deeper understanding of the fundamental relationships that allow this interaction to take place.
