Protect Yourself from these Lifestyle Diseases in India

Meet Mr. Sawant, a young entrepreneur with a successful startup company. He was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and heart disease. Despite being health-conscious, what could have gone wrong? Let’s analyse his lifestyle.

 

His daily tasks consist of hardball negotiations, creating competitive strategies and meeting clients or investors. He toils every day, drinking coffee to fuel his mind and body. Mr. Sawant indulges in a few cigarette breaks to boost his resilience, catching up with his employee in the smoking zone. Before heading home, he spends 2 hours at the gym to stretch out his fatigued body and maintain his physique.

 

As you can see, Mr. Sawant seems to be quite well-disciplined, but that’s not enough. While some of his habits are healthy, others are detrimental to his health. It’s no doubt that these harmful habits have contributed to his ill health.

 

Like Mr. Sawant, most people indulge in lifestyles that seem balanced on the surface, but they lean towards the harmful side. By letting their bad habits tip the scales, the benefits of healthy habits come undone. 

Understanding Lifestyle Diseases 

These are diseases acquired from prolonged indulgence in poor lifestyle habits like smoking, excessive consumption of alcohol or caffeine (coffee), etc. Lifestyle diseases, until recently, were only a concern for first-world nations. However, with the exponential growth of globalisation through social media, lifestyle diseases have begun afflicting third-world countries, too.

 

The primary reason for this growth is rapid urbanisation, leading to overcrowding and poor living conditions. With these issues left unsupervised, there’s been a rise in coronary heart diseases, cancers and asthma. However, there are other reasons contributing to this increase in the occurrences of lifestyle diseases.

 

• Chronic stress 

• Frequently drinking alcohol 

• Smoking 

• Insufficient sleep 

• Lack of physical activity 

• Poor diets 

Through Mr. Sawant’s case, we can see that people are under the belief that their healthy habits will counter their negative ones. Though, that’s not true. It simply negates the effort taken for those good habits to cultivate. 

Common Lifestyle Diseases in India 

In India, these diseases run rampant as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, asthma, hypertension and cancer. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India will have over 73.5 million diabetic patients. Furthermore, over 25 million Indians suffer from cardiovascular diseases, accounting for 60% of the global figure.

 

Learn more about these dangerous lifestyle diseases to avoid falling victim to them. We have rounded up 5 of the most commonly reported lifestyle diseases in India. 

1. Obesity 

As per the National Family Health Survey, India has the second-highest obese population. Over 155 million Indians suffer from obesity due to poor diets and lack of exercise. 

 

Tip: Avoid eating large portions, or often, out of habit. Eat slowly and only when you’re hungry. 

2. Diabetes (Type II)

Globally, India has the largest (2018) number of type II diabetics, with over 40.9 million active patients. Though, these figures will increase due to high reports of cases pertaining to children.

 

Tip: Engage in 30 minutes of rigorous activity to keep your heart healthy. It will control blood glucose, as well. 

3. Heart Diseases 

Once more, India holds the highest rank for people suffering from heart-related concerns. The number has been 50 million Indians.

 

Tip: Regularly schedule health checkups to monitor any changes in blood pressure and cholesterol levels or to detect conditions like diabetes 

4. Cirrhosis 

A study in 2017 found that over 10 lakh cases of cirrhosis are reported every year in India. It’s a group of liver disorders that usually occur due to the frequent consumption of alcohol.

 

Tip: Once diagnosed with cirrhosis, any further consumption of alcohol can be toxic to the liver.

 

People are under the shared belief that their healthy habits will counter their negative ones. It simply negates the effort taken for those good habits to cultivate. By educating yourself on the harmful effects of lifestyle diseases, you can help yourself (and countless others!) escape its clutches.