Physical Health
Although human physiology is essentially the same across the world, there are noticeable differences in the process of how illness is delivered and appears in different cultural settings. This is influenced by the biological variability of humans as humans in various parts of the world were subject to different selection pressures over generations, resulting in the human genome diverging across different populations. In addition, people living in diverse locations have experiences within their lifetimes that have an impact on their biology. Humans evolve and develop in response to environmental factors. As a result, specific traits are often specific to particular cultures and differ in others. For example, skin color represents genetic variability due to the body’s ability to synthesize vitamin D.
There are also genetic adaptations to local climate, altitude, and pathogens (genomes that are influenced by geographical factors). For example, If I were to live anywhere else in the world, it would most likely be difficult for me to adapt to the different levels of altitude. The 4,000 m of elevation of a country like Peru, for example, would be a drastic difference in comparison to Nova Scotia’s maximum elevation of 500 m. A result of such drastic altitude change is altitude sickness. The local Peruvians are not affected by altitude sickness, however, as their genomes are altered by these geographical factors.
