GUEST COLUMN: The Best Health Documentaries to Watch In 2022

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The Best Health Documentaries to Watch In 2022

by Devin Caldwell

If you're looking to improve your health in 2022, health documentaries can be a great place to start. Not only can they educate you on the human body and nutrition, but they can also motivate you to live a healthier lifestyle. Here are six of the best health documentaries to watch this year.

1. What the Health

Produced and directed by duo Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, What the Health explores the relationship between diet and disease. This film features interviews with scientists, doctors and farmers, who describe how a standard diet containing dairy, eggs and meat is causing serious health problems for Americans. Andersen believes that a conspiracy involving pharmaceutical companies and various health organizations exists to cover up the diseases caused by this unhealthy diet. What the Health advocates for a plant-based diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables and beans.

In addition to eating a plant-based diet, taking supplements can also help you get all the nutrients that your body needs. Looking up Le-Vel Thrive reviews can help you decide if these supplements best fit your diet.

2. The C Word

Cancer is a disease that will affect one in two women and one in three men in the United States at some point in their lifetime. The C Word is a film produced and directed by Meghan O'Hara, a stage three breast cancer survivor who exposes how Western medicine has failed to treat cancer over the past few decades. In addition to O'Hara sharing her personal story, she also sheds light on cancer prevention. The C Word highlights four factors that lower the risk of cancer:

  • Diet

  • Exercise

  • Stress management

  • Toxin avoidance

3. Heal

Heal is a documentary that explores the mind's ability to heal the body. Kelly Noonan explores how people's beliefs and emotions have a huge impact on their physical health. In addition, this documentary emphasizes that most Americans suffer from chronic stress. Because stress compromises the immune system, this leads to increased levels of illness. However, the good news is that understanding the connection between the mind and body can help to reduce disease and manage well-being. Noonan interviews medical, psychological and homeopathic experts to shed light on what Americans are doing wrong and how they can improve their health and well-being.

4. End Game

Although many people are scared of dying, End Game seeks to dispel this fear by showcasing how humans can accept death. This documentary follows the Zen Hospital in San Francisco, whose mission is to use palliative care, hospice and counseling to give terminally ill patients the most comfortable and peaceful experience possible. The Zen Hospital also coaches family members to help them prepare for the passing of their loved ones.

5. My Beautiful Broken Brain

This documentary follows the journey of 34-year-old Lotje Sodderland, who suffered a hemorrhagic stroke due to an abnormal development of blood vessels. Although Sodderland is fortunate to be alive, she suffers from aphasia, a language disorder that affects her ability to speak, read and understand spoken language. My Beautiful Broken Brain follows Sodderland as she documents learning to live with her new condition. This film showcases the physical and emotional consequences of brain damage and how acceptance can go a long way in living a fulfilling life.

6. Take Your Pills

Take Your Pills is a controversial documentary exploring the stimulant industry in the United States and how prescribing ADHD medications such as Adderall and Ritalin can have negative effects on children and adults. Some of these effects include:

  • Sleep problems

  • Increase in blood pressure

  • Sexual dysfunction

  • Panic attacks

  • Kidney disease

  • Psychosis

Not only are Americans prescribed these medications to treat ADHD, but they may also be used to focus through long periods of work, which can have negative consequences for physical and mental well-being.

Conclusion

Whether you're looking to improve your health in 2022 or you're curious to learn about a new health topic, watching these six documentaries can help you gain a new perspective on physical and mental health.