Lifestyle diseases

                                                      Lifestyle diseases

Lifestyle Disease: 
 A disease associated with the way a person or group of people lives. Lifestyle diseases include atherosclerosis, heart disease, and stroke, obesity and type 2 diabetes, and diseases associated with smoking and alcohol and drug abuse. Regular physical activity helps prevent obesity, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, colon cancer, and premature mortality. 

 Diseases linked to the way people live their life. This is commonly caused by alcohol, drug, and smoking abuse as well as lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating. Diseases that impact on our lifestyle are heart disease, stroke, obesity and type II diabetes. The diseases that appear to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialized and people live longer.  

Lifestyle Diseases and childhood: 

 Not restricted to adults alone, Lifestyle diseases have started hitting kids as well. The shift in purchasing power and the coming in of technology has changed the way our life functions now. Less physical activity, more availability of resources and no time to spare, we have become preys to some extremely uncommon diseases our grandparents had never even heard about in the 60s and 70s. While there are communicable diseases like Malaria, Cholera, Polio, which can be managed with the help of proper treatment, there are lifestyle diseases which can be prevented if the healthy active lifestyle is followed. 

World Reports: 

 Globally, 14.2 million people between the ages of 30-70 years. die prematurely each year from diseases like heart attack, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Some of these diseases have emerged as more fatal hereditary diseases or infectious ones. 

  A report, jointly prepared by the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum, says India will incur an accumulated loss of $236.6 billion by 2015 on account of an unhealthy lifestyle and faulty diet. The resultant chronic diseases - heart disease, stroke, diabetes and respiratory infection- which are ailments of long duration and slow progression, will severely affect people's earnings. The income loss to Indians because of these diseases, which was $8,7 billion in 2005, is projected to rise to $54 billion with income loss increasing by $5.5 billion to $6.7 billion by 2015. China, however, will be worse off. While its accumulated loss will stand at $557.7 billion, the loss of income of the Chinese will stand at $131.8 billion, almost eight times what it was in 2005. 

 According to the report, 60% of all deaths worldwide in 2005(35 million) resulted from noncommunicable diseases and accounted for 44% of premature deaths. What's worse, around 80% of these deaths will occur in low and middle-income countries like India which are also crippled by an ever-increasing burden of infectious diseases, poor maternal and perinatal conditions and nutritional deficiencies. Almost half of those who die from chronic diseases will be in their productive years. The report also points to the fact that countries Like Brazil, Chine, Russia, and India currently lose more than 20 million productive life- years annually to chronic diseases, and the number is expected to grow by 65% by 2030. In 2007, exceed 3.6 billion in 2020. 

 The cost to employers of morbidity attributed to non-communicable diseases is increasing rapidly. Workplaces should make possible healthy food choices and support physical activity. Unhealthy diets and excessive energy intake, physical inactivity,, and tobacco use are major risk factors for non-communicable diseases, the report said. 

Some of the most common types of lifestyle diseases are the following: 

Obesity: 

 We are all familiar with the word and yet tend to ignore it. To see whether you've reached this stage, check your BMI. If it is higher than 25, then you are in the obese category. Unhealthy eating habits, stressful lifestyle, reduced physical activity translates to obesity. Anybody who is overweight suffers from breathing issues, blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes etc. This is also the first step to your body attracting all kinds of other lifestyle diseases. 
 According to the National family health survey, India ranks second with 155 million obese citizens and this number is increasing at 33-51% every year. 

Type II diabetes: 

 As mentioned in the first point, obesity is one of the primary causes of type II diabetes. Type II diabetes is the non-insulin form which develops in adults due to poor eating habits and bad lifestyle choices. India has the largest number of diabetics with type II ar 40.9 million. This number is increasing with kids entering the bandwagon. 

Arteriosclerosis: 

 Arteriosclerosis occurs when the arterial blood vessel walls thicken and lose elasticity. This usually causes blood circulation disorders, chest pain, and heart attacks. Arteriosclerosis is also linked to obesity, diabetes,, and high blood pressure. At least 3-40% of cardiovascular deaths happen in the age group of 34-64 in India. 

Heart Diseases:

 Any irregularity or abnormality which affects the heart muscle and blood vessel walls can be referred to as a heart disease. Smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol contribute to its development in the body. India ranks number one when it comes to cardio patients with 50 million suffering heart health issues. 

High Blood Pressure:

 100 million in India suffer from high blood pressure. Some very common reasons for high blood pressure are stress, obesity, genetic factors and unhealthy eating habits. When the reading in the blood pressure machine is 140/90 or higher, your blood pressure is high. Once this happens, you will feel severe discomfort. 

Swimmer's Ear: 

 When you use headphones constantly and are exposed to loud music more than you should be, the ultimate result of this is swimmer's ear. Swimmer's ear causes inflammation, irritation or infection in the ear canal or the outer ear. According to studies, 12.5% approximately have suffered permanent damage to their hearing due to constant exposure to noise. This number is said to be increasing by the year.  

Cancer: 

 Due to the stressful lifestyle that we lead now, our body's immunity has decreased. This means that the white blood cells lose their power to fight the viruses that enter our body. Because of this, there may be an irregular cell growth, which can be concluded as cancer. Cancer can be caused due to many reasons like prolonged smoking(lung cancer), too much exposure to the sun (skin cancer). 

Stroke:

 When the blood vessel carrying blood to the brain has a blockage leading to an oxygen deficiency for the area of the brain it carried blood to, the result of this is called a stroke. High blood pressure, if not taken care of in time with proper treatment, can lead to a stroke. Stroke can also be caused due to hereditary reasons. 

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:

 COPB is caused by the permanent obstruction of the airways. The increase in air pollution due to factors like gas leaks and smoking can worsen this condition. In 2014, 4.3 million were diagnosed with this disease in India. 

 Cirrhosis:

 Cirrhosis can be defined as a group of liver disorders. The liver can be severely affected by heavy alcohol consumption and chronic hepatitis. This has become a common lifestyle disease as many people consume alcohol on a daily basis to deal with stress. 

Nephritis:

 When there is swelling in the kidneys leading to abnormal function, it is known as nephritis. There are many causes of nephritis, one of them being an allergic reaction to a medication or antibiotic. Other than this, it can also be caused due to bacterial infections, which may enter through stress foods not prepared in hygienic conditions. 

Control and prevention of lifestyle diseases:

 An important way of controlling non-communicable is by controlling the risk factors associated with it. In other words, a number of communicable diseases can be prevented by controlling the behavioral or lifestyle habits associated with those diseases. There are a number of low-cost solutions that can be implemented by the government and other involved groups to reduce the common modifiable risk factors. 1 monitoring the trends of non-communicable diseases and their associated risks is crucial for guiding policies and guidelines. 

 A comprehensive approach that involves all sectors including health, finance, education, planning, and others, to minimize the impact of lifestyle diseases on individuals and society. The approach needs to instigate a collaborative effort to minimize the risks associated with no communicable diseases and at the same time inspire interventions to control and prevent them. 

 Lifestyle diseases are a threat to the socio-economic aspects of nations globally and appropriate actions for their management are the need of the moment. Management of lifestyle diseases includes proper diagnosis, screening, and treatment of these diseases in the treatment of these diseases in addition to providing palliative care for people who require it. Quality lifestyle diseases intervention needs to be delivered through a primary health care approach where early detection and proper treatment are prioritized. Stop smoking, have a balanced diet with plenty of fiber. Exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight and body mass index(BMI), Cut down on alcohol.