How to live long and healthy life by taking small but effective steps:

 In common usage and medicine, health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity"

    

But being healthy is not that simple as it looks. Broadly speaking disease is of two type i.e. communicable and non-communicable. 

• Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) kills 41 million people each year worldwide, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally. In the Region of the Americas, 5.5 million deaths are by NCDs.

HEALTHY HEART

Non-communicable diseases(NDCs)

"Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the leading cause of mortality in the world. This invisible epidemic is an under-appreciated cause of poverty and hinders the economic development of many countries

major cause for NDCs

However, most NCDs are preventable, with poor health largely driven by five main modifiable risk factors: tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, alcohol use and air pollution 

Influencing Factors-

More specifically, key factors that have been found to influence whether people are healthy or unhealthy include the following:

EDUCATION AND LITERACY

EMPLOYMENT AND WORKING CONDITION

SOCIAL SUPPORT

PHYSICAL INVIRONMENT

CULTURE

GENDER

HEALTHY CHILD DEVELOPMENT

PERSONAL HEALTH PRACTICE

 

What are the consequences of NCDs?

Economies are being depleted by the direct and indirect costs of NCDs. NCDs reduce productivity and human capital, while increasing healthcare costs from serious illness, disability and death. NCDs are both a cause and a consequence of poverty, destroying the economies of millions of families each year.

Metabolic risk factors contribute to four key metabolic changes that increase the risk of NCDs:

• raised blood pressure
• overweight/obesity
• hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels) and
• hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in the blood).

Prevention and Cure

 lifestyle chance is way forward: Our lifestyle has largely changed, it has become monotonous, restricted in indoor area, and pathetic food habit made the matter worse. This can be cured by taking some simple steps as-

• Healthy Diet – Avoiding canned food and excessive salt can prevent hypertension. Also, taking high fiber content helps in controlling hypertension. A healthy and balanced diet is also vital for overall body health.
• Regular Exercise – Approximately 1.6 million global deaths are attributed to a sedentary lifestyle. Obesity is associated with many NCDs like coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, stroke and even some cancers.
• Adequate Sleep – 6 to 8 hours of sound sleep is a must for a healthy body to function. Inadequate sleep leads to an increase in stress levels, changes in blood pressure and disturbance in the biological cycle.
• Mental Relaxation – Meditation, exercise, and relaxation play a role in reducing anxiety and depression. This will have a positive impact on reducing hypertension, heart attacks and diabetes in the longer run.
• Avoiding tobacco and alcohol – Avoiding alcohol will have an impact on preventing depression, chronic liver diseases and even motor vehicular injuries. Also, both chewing and smoking tobacco contribute to cancer, chronic lung diseases, heart diseases and strokes.
• Genetic Counselling – It is a remarkable way to detect genetic diseases in an unborn child. Genetic counselling, along with gene therapy, is the only way to prevent genetic disorders as most of them do not have a complete cure.

• Build positive social environment:  Positive social environments promote acceptance, kindness, forgiveness and opportunities to make mistakes without consequences. These gentle learning environments can be incredibly important for diverse students.

As it is well said," HEALTH IS WEALTH". It is not a wise decision to compromise health for wealth in early age and then spending that wealth on protecting health. There is a need of fine balance in both of them for a happy and prosperous life. 

Do you think there are any other dimensional effect of bad health on our life ? if yes please let me know in the comment section with some measures to deal with them that will help others too.