6 Common Lifestyle Diseases Caused by Bad Habits & Lifestyle Choices
For the past decades, people’s lifestyles have become sedentary and their diets unhealthy. There is also a huge spike in the use of tobacco and alcohol abuse. As a result, these risk factors significantly contribute to the ever-increasing lifestyle diseases including obesity, cancer, chronic lung disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
A study showed that around 14 million people between 30-69 years old died too early from diseases such as heart attack, diabetes, and high blood pressure. But aside from adults, these lifestyle diseases have started targeting people of young age as well.
Here are six of the most common lifestyle diseases:
OBESITY
Obesity happens when a person’s BMI is higher than normal and often follows an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. Over the years, eating more calories than you burn in everyday activity and exercise will add up and lead to weight gain.
This involves consuming too much fast food, high-calories beverages like sugary soft drinks, and lacking in fruit and vegetables. Sedentary activities like spending long hours at the computer and having little to no exercise are major factors to be an obese person.
TYPE II DIABETES
One of the main causes of type II diabetes is obesity. Commonly developed in adults, this type of diabetes is a non-insulin form that occurs because of poor diet and lifestyle choices.
India leads the global top ten in terms of the highest number of people with diabetes with a current figure of 40.9 million, followed by China with 39.8 million.
HEART DISEASES
Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death all over the world, taking over 17 million lives every year. More than genetics, there is strong evidence that lack of physical activity, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension play a critical role in young patients with heart disease.
In today’s fast-paced world, healthy lifestyle habits should be everyone’s focus for preventing heart disease, especially if a person has a family history of this serious condition.
STROKE
High blood pressure can lead to a stroke if not taken care of in time and given proper treatment. This happens when there is an interruption or reduction to the blood supply to part of the brain, preventing brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients.
Aside from smoking, high cholesterol raises the risks of a person having a stroke. Consume fruits and vegetables high in fiber and avoid foods that are high in saturated fats, trans fat, and cholesterol. You might also need to limit your salt intake to lower your blood pressure.
CANCER
Stress greatly impacts our body’s immunity. When it becomes chronic stress, it increases the chances of cancer growth because white blood cells lose their power to combat the viruses that enter a person’s body. Therefore, irregular cell growth may eventually lead to cancer. Other bad habits and activities such as prolonged smoking and too much sun exposure can also cause lung and skin cancer respectively.
The proven ways to fight stress are movement-based activities like yoga and mindfulness meditation. This gives your mind time off from stress, and can also improve your mood and quality of life.
CIRRHOSIS
The main cause of cirrhosis is excessive alcohol use. It is considered a lifestyle disease because it is common for many people to unwind and chill out from a rough day by consuming alcohol.
If a person increases their dependence on alcohol to deal with stress, he could face several physical consequences. Your liver can be severely affected by alcohol abuse in the long run which can lead to chronic liver disease.
Secure your health and finances with A+ International Healthcare
Your health and lifestyle choices significantly affects your insurance coverage and premiums. Keeping a healthy lifestyle results in a healthy well-being. This is why healthy people are more likely to get lower premiums because they are at low risk of getting these chronic diseases.
But even with a healthy lifestyle, sudden illness or medical emergencies may still happen. And without medical insurance, serious health conditions can be extremely expensive and can result in poor credit or even bankruptcy.
With an international health plan, you get peace of mind knowing that you will not have to jeopardize your financial stability if you are ever faced with a critical illness like cancer or heart disease. And above all, you get to enjoy first-class healthcare and receive the necessary treatments for your recovery.
For as low as $38/month with a cover on certain diseases, EasyCare+ gives you international protection, whether you plan to travel or if you want to get the best healthcare locally. Each of our health plans is tailored to your specific needs. You can have access to a network of over 10,000 doctors, hospitals, and clinics in more than 150 countries.
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Since 2008, A+ International Healthcare has been providing best-in-class medical health plans around the world. To know more about our products and services, visit http://www.aplusii.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more updates.
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