Lifestyle disorders are defined as diseases linked with the way people live their life. These are non-communicable diseases commonly caused by lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating, alcohol, drugs and smoking. Diseases that mostly have an effect 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 include Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis, asthma, cancer, chronic liver disease or cirrhosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney failure, osteoporosis, PCOD, stroke, depression, obesity and vascular dementia (Brain damage caused by multiple strokes).
Incidence
In the recent times, there is an increasing incidence of diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cardio vascular diseases, behavioral problems, high cholesterol, and obesity affecting even the younger people. Despite increasing health awareness, more than half of the people in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad and Chennai suffer from diabetes. The changed living habits due to increasing job requirement, sedentary lifestyle and competitive living are the main culprits coming in the way of golden rules of good living. People who fall victims to this new phenomenon get trapped with certain diseases at a younger age.
According to a report published by ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) in 2017, 3 of the 5 leading individual causes of disease burden in India were non-communicable, with ischemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as the top two causes and stroke as the fifth leading cause. The range of disease burden or DALY rate among the states in 2016 was 9-fold for ischemic heart disease, 4-fold for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 6-fold for stroke, and 4-fold for diabetes across India. Of the total death from major disease groups, 62% of all deaths were caused by non-communicable diseases.
Non Communicable diseases, mainly cardiovascular diseases (including heart disease and stroke), diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases are diseases of long duration and generally slow in progression. They are the major cause of adult mortality and illness worldwide.
Causes
People who eat a high calorie diet without adequate exercise are in greater danger of lifestyle disorders. Better living conditions and enhanced health care facilities have increased the longevity of people. Industrialization, economic liberalization, invasion of international mass media, expansion of information & communication technology etc. are also altering the health style of the community. Concurrently, there is drastic increase in the incidence of long term and chronic diseases. This is further adding the diseases burden even in developing countries.
According to the National Family Health Survey, 13 percent of women and 9 percent of men in India are overweight or obese. Obesity increases the chance of other lifestyle disorders. Death rate due to ischemic heart disease in India is 165.8 per 100,000 population. Around 116.4 per 100, 000 people in India die due to cerebro-vascular diseases. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among males as well as females.
A few things that we can do
- Eat Healthy
- Get regular physical activity
- Quit Smoking and substance abuse
- Limit alcohol
- Get enough sleep
- Know your family history
- Get regular medical screenings