Fascinating documentaries that cover the developments and breakthroughs of healthcare and science in pursuit of improving our wellbeing.
Health documentaries can help you take better care of your own wellbeingAround the globe, more and more people are becoming more health conscious. Getting regular exercise and eating healthily is becoming more widely practiced, while unhealthy habits are on the decline. For example, cigarette smoking amongst American adults aged 18 and above has actually declined from 20.9% in 2005 to 15.5% in 2016.
The global consumer demand for organic food has also been growing, as people learn more about the unhealthy effects of GMO farming and pesticides, leading them to seek out healthier alternatives such as fresher, antibiotic-free, and more environmentally sustainable products that are better for themselves and their environment.
One of the ways to best learn about the advancements that scientists, field workers, and nutritionists are making in the world of heath, science, and overall wellbeing, is through watching documentaries that carefully curate this information and present a clear narrative for the consumer, allowing them to make better choices regarding their health and wellbeing.
This can be seen in the documentary The Truth About Vitamins, where filmmaker and health-freak Bryan Sage seeks out health experts and tries to get answers about how important vitamins really are, why we need them, and why we can’t produce them on our own.
Mental health is just as important as physical healthWhen we think about taking care of our health, we usually think about physical health first, such as cancer prevention or new medicines or treatments being invented. However, a big part of health is also about understanding mental health, whether it’s caring for your own mental health or learning about differently-abled people who may be on the spectrum or have certain neurological conditions, so that we can function better as a society.
For example, in Beyond the Spectrum, a family drops everything for a year to focus on early intervention for two-year-old Oskar when he is diagnosed with autism, experimenting with various kinds of treatments while also trying to balance home-schooling their other four children, leading to a journey that highlights the challenges and triumphs of embracing autism.
Get a better overview of certain controversial topics with health documentariesHealth documentaries can also give you a wider perspective with a scientific understanding of health-related topics that people are constantly discussing. One of these documentaries is our recent launch Eating Animals, which is based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s bestselling novel and narrated by Academy Award winner Natalie Portman. Through the narratives of heritage farmers, whistleblowers, and innovators, Eating Animals paints a clearer understanding of the cost of industrial farming on our health and environment, and how we can seek more sustainable alternatives in the future.
Another controversial health debate can be seen in Family Shots, a health documentary that follows a couple, Jessica and David, as they disagree on whether to vaccinate their daughter. Some people believe that vaccinating causes autism or other side effects, while others believe that it is the best way to protect one’s body and stay healthy. No matter which side you stand on, it helps to educate yourself by learning about the scientific facts and arguments made by both outlooks.
