So, you’ve taken your first look at your lifestyle. What has changed? Maybe you’ve just gotten older, and your body isn’t performing as well as it used to. Or perhaps you’ve added a couple of extra pounds or noticed your cholesterol isn’t as low as it used to be. Living a healthier lifestyle is the key to a healthier present and future, no matter what happens to you. Check out these major contributors to lifestyle diseases to take things down a notch and figure out where to start.
Lifestyle diseases are conditions that result from lifestyle choices. This is in contrast to a disease caused by an infectious agent or a natural mutation. Lifestyle diseases include obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. These diseases are the result of an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, lack of tobacco use, and lack of sun exposure.
What Are Lifestyle Diseases
Lifestyle diseases are complications that develop from behaviours such as having poor eating habits, not exercising often or not consistently, and not living a healthy lifestyle.
Lifestyle diseases are chronic conditions that occur as a result of our lifestyle choices. Common lifestyle diseases include diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and heart disease. They can develop in anyone, regardless of their age or gender. Although lifestyle diseases are preventable, they are becoming increasingly common.
The term lifestyle diseases were first introduced in 1999 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe a group of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) related to physical inactivity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, and certain harmful substances drugs. These diseases are responsible for 9 out of 10 deaths worldwide and are responsible for 3 out of 4 deaths in high-income countries.
Here Are Some Major Causes of Lifestyle Disease
Obesity
A major cause of lifestyle diseases is obesity. When you are overweight, you increase your risk for a host of health problems.
Stroke
Stroke is the death of brain cells due to a blood clot or rupture in a vessel that feeds the brain (think of a busted water pipe). In adults, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. Stroke is a devastating disease that can impair our quality of life, and since brain cells cannot grow back, stroke patients will need lifelong treatment.
Gallbladder disease – A gallbladder disease can be caused due to several factors like gallstones, fatty liver, inflammation, high blood pressure, etc. The most common reason for gallstones is a build-up of cholesterol and fat in your gallbladder.
Cancer
Lifestyle diseases are illnesses caused by the way we live our lives. And one of the most common lifestyle diseases is cancer. Although cancer is preventable, it’s estimated that 1 in 3 people will develop cancer during their lifetime. Lifestyle diseases are a form of chronic, progressive diseases that are caused and exacerbated by a poor lifestyle. These diseases are preventable yet are prevalent around the world. They are responsible for numerous deaths and disabilities and are often expensive to treat. They are chronic, meaning they hang around long after you treat the initial symptom and usually have multiple causes.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that is characterized by high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is not caused by eating too much, not taking your medications, or not being active. Diabetes is a disease that is genetic and results from the body not producing enough insulin. Insulin is a hormone that controls the amount of sugar in your blood.
Heart disease
Heart disease is a leading cause of death around the world, and it’s on the rise in the United States. According to the American Heart Association, heart attacks, strokes, and coronary heart disease all involve some type of blockage in an artery, and heart disease is a leading cause of disability.
Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea, also known as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), occurs when your breathing is interrupted during sleep. It occurs when your airway is blocked from collapsing, which in turn interrupts your breathing. The blockage can occur anywhere along your airway but most often occurs in the throat. An enlarged tonsil or a deviated septum is the most common culprit.
Prevention of Lifestyle Diseases
The term ‘lifestyle diseases’ is used to describe diseases that develop due to certain lifestyle factors. These diseases, also known as preventable diseases, can often be overlooked by doctors because they are often linked to poor lifestyle choices. However, lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity affect millions of people every year, and early detection can prevent or delay the onset of the disease.
Traditional medicine has treated lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease as diseases of poor lifestyle choices. But now, several health organizations are working to reverse this perspective and classify these chronic illnesses as diseases of rich lifestyle choices.
Lifestyle diseases are preventable, but (as with many things) they don’t just happen. Some factors lead to them and lifestyle choices that can increase one’s risk for these diseases.
These diseases are often preventable, but awareness is key to helping you keep these diseases at bay.
