I agree. I think it’s part of a knee-jerk reaction to try to paper over the problem (and the fear and anxiety it causes) as quickly as possible.

I found this particularly interesting because I’ve been looking at the whole “wellness” fad, and I think there’s a lot of mortal terror (as you so aptly describe it) underlying some of the its more convoluted and arcane practices. In that case, it’s almost like people are looking for little magical rituals to keep sickness and death and bay.