More And More People Are Suffering From Health Problems Caused By Modern Lifestyle Which Cannot Be Cured With Modern Medicines | Band 8 IELTS Essay Sample

More and more people are suffering from health problems caused by modern life style which cannot be treated with modern medicines. Some people think that a return to traditional medicines should be encouraged. To what extent do you agree?

Here is a band 8 IELTS essay on this topic submitted by one of our students. Need help with writing? Get your writing samples corrected by me.

Band 8 IELTS essay sample

Even though modern medicine has increased the life expectancy in general, the overall quality of life has taken a plunge due to health problems caused by the modern lifestyle. While some recommend a complete go back to traditional medicine, may others including me recommend a combination of traditional and modern medicines to adequately address the situation because traditional medicines were designed at a time that did not take the modern lifestyle into account.

As technology advanced and demand for goods increased, machines started performing many of the common tasks that humans used to perform because machines are more efficient in performing mundane tasks. As a result, the daily physical activity of humans has significantly decreased; for example, motor cars have eliminated the need to walk or cycle. Furthermore, as population increased the demand for food and supplies has increased with it. To meet that new demand, companies are producing genetically modified crops that yield a higher output but can cause diseases such as cancer. Although traditional medicines are very effective in treating both common and complex health conditions, they are not designed to manage issues caused by the lack of physical activity or the consumption of unhealthy foods.

Modern medicine has been making tremendous progress in managing life style problems such as obesity and cancer. However, there are a lot of known and unknown side effects to them because they have not been in the market for long. Traditional medicines on the other hand are devoid of such side effects and can treat a lot of issues that people face today. In addition, since modern medicine has assumed prominence today, traditional medicine is ignored to a great extent and does not receive enough funding. Therefore, traditional medicine is not catching up in some of the areas where modern medicine is doing wonders.

In conclusion, modern lifestyle has created medical problems that were absent in the past when humans consumed more natural produce and exercised more. As a result, traditional medicine that was created without taking the modern lifestyle into account cannot solve all the medical problems of the day even though it offers effective cures to many illnesses. Modern medicine, on the other hand, received significant research attention in the last century and has made strides in curing many diseases caused by lifestyle. Therefore, I recommend a combination of both traditional and modern medicines to create a harmonious balance.

Band 8 IELTS essay sample 2

According to some people, it is better to use traditional medicines to cure modern lifestyle ailments that have no cures in modern medicine.  I concur with the view that conventional medicines can cure many health-related problems; however, traditional medicine is not a panacea for all ailments.

One of the reasons to believe this is that traditional medicines are considered to cure the root cause of many ailments. As an illustration, if the patient has recurring pimples, constipation and acidity issues, the traditional medicines will work directly towards cleansing the gut rather than settling the symptoms with over-the-top pills provided in modern medicines. Thus, old-fashioned medicine eradicates the root cause of the problem rather than / instead of working on the surface. Also, some of the main lifestyle diseases are stress and high blood pressure. Alternative therapies like Yoga and meditation can control these ailments to a great extent. Likewise, obesity can be controlled by adopting the natural and healthy diets prescribed by Ayurveda. Various skin diseases can also be effectively treated with herbs.

Having said that, there are still lots of ailments that traditional medicine cannot cure. While adopting the traditional way of life will improve people’s health, they can still develop various ailments like cancer or heart trouble due to factors outside their control. For example, air pollution and regular consumption of foods treated with pesticides have been linked to various cancers. Unfortunately, traditional medicine still does not have a cure for these ailments.

In conclusion, traditional medicine can certainly treat some lifestyle diseases better than modern medicine. This, however, does not mean that alternative medicine has a cure for all ailments. In my opinion, people should adopt a combination of alternative and modern therapies to achieve optimal health.

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Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.

2 Responses

  1. seema says:

    It is true that, modern medicines are failed to cure the health issues caused by the change in lifestyle due to the advancement in technology and the number of persons affected are substantially increasing. I totally agree with the notion as the traditional medicine have no side-effects which I am going to discuss further in this essay.
    To commence with, advancement in the technology make the life of human being easier and relaxed, but at the same time it brings more adverse effects also. Modern medicines can cure the disease but their after effects are hidden or above imagination. A good illustration is, the gaining weight in individuals irrespective of ages due to the lack of muscular activity. To solve this problem people try to use the modern medicine which causes several side effects from hormonal imbalance to cancer, at the end the problem is still there. Whereas, traditional medicine may take time to cure this problem but it has no side effects and the disease can be cured completely and effectively.
    Secondly, arising of the new antibiotic resistant bacteria because of the usage of products formed by the cross reaction, gene mutation or by the side effects of other antibiotic. For example, the emergence of MRSA strain bacteria, resistant to almost all the antibiotic available recently and can spread from one person to another. In future, technology may invent further higher generation of medicine to handle this strain and this process will continue with no permanent solution. But, in traditional medicine it cures from the root of the bacteria and stops further spreading.
    To conclude, I totally agree with the statement that we should encourage the citizens to turn back to traditional medicine which have no side effects

    • ielts practice says:

      This is a band 6.5 essay. Your introduction should be something like this:
      It is true that modern medicine has failed to cure many health problems caused by the change in lifestyle. Since traditional medicine can effectively cure many of these ailments with no side effects, I agree with the argument that it is important to go back to the traditional way of healing illnesses.

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