Lifestyle Disorder Diseases

Nutritionist, educator & Founder DietWissdom

Sept 26, 2022

Reading time- 7 mins

It has been rightly said

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use, When diet is correct, medicine is of no Need”- (According to Ayurveda, that eating right kind of food in right amounts at a right time can become medicine for the ailments of the body.)

Lifestyle Disorders- The term Lifestyle disorders includes two words that is “lifestyle‟ and Disorders” lifestyle basically means the style or way of living of a particular person or a group of people living conditions which includes their habits and behaviour. Disorder can be recognised as disease or syndrome, which means that numbers of symptoms occur together and epithet as a specific disease which can be caused by irregularity, disturbance, or interruption of normal functions of the body. Lack of discipline in day to day life or irresponsible behaviour of an individual which can lead to non-communicable diseases or called as lifestyle disorder diseases and syndromes.

Technology, Modernisation and Health

Unhealthy dietary habits, irregular sleep cycles and overdependence on technologies have resulted in lifestyle diseases seeing an upward spike. The changed living habits due to increasing job requirement, sedentary lifestyle and competitive living is 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 the reports published by WHO as on 13th April 2021

Non communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally.
Each year, more than 15 million people die from a NCD between the ages of 30 and 69 years; 85% of these "premature" deaths occur in low- and middle income countries.
77% of all NCD deaths are in low- and middle-income countries.
Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.9 million people annually, followed by cancers (9.3 million), respiratory diseases (4.1 million), and diabetes (1.5 million).
These four groups of diseases account for over 80% of all premature NCD deaths.
Tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets all increase the risk of dying from a NCD.
Detection, screening and treatment of NCDs, as well as palliative care, are key components of the response to NCDs.

The data depicts that Lifestyle diseases are severe, yet neglected public health crises across Globe. Despite the increased attention being given to this problem, its prevalence is increasing steeply in both developed and developing countries. In India Surveys conducted by centre of science and Environment depicts the upward trend in lifestyle diseases in India. Reports published by Indian council of Medical and Research along with Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation and Public Health Foundation of India, depicts the rising burden on the public health system due to NCDs (Lifestyle related diseases).

It had been observed that

Over 61 per cent of all deaths in India attributed to lifestyle or non communicable diseases (NCDs).
More than 1.73 million new cancer cases likely to be recorded each year.
Every 12th Indian a diabetic -- India ranks second in the list of countries with highest diabetes patients.
Every third child specifically in metropolitan cities has impaired lungs.
Air pollution causes 30 per cent of all premature deaths in the country; linkages with mental diseases revealed.
More than 2.7 million people in India die of heart diseases every year – 52 per cent of them below the age of 70.

Features of NCDs

Unhealthy diets, sedentary lifestyle, lack of Physical activities are the some of the reasons which leads to unbreakable chain of diseases and health issues, begin with metabolic disorders may be causative variable of obesity leads to chronic heart diseases, liver diseases, poly cystic ovarian syndrome etc. Some of the features of Non communicable Diseases are:

Multiple risk variables: There are a number of risk variables that lead to the onset and development of NCDs. The various types of risks can be divided into three primary risk sets: modifiable behavioural risk variables, non-modifiable risk variables and metabolic risk variables, many of which are common for a number of diseases.
Long latency period: Latency period is the time gap between being exposed to causative variable of disease and having infirmity or disorder. The latency period of non-communicable diseases is generally long, often stretching from many years to several decades.
Non-contagious origin (non-communicable): NCDs are not communicated from one person to another, so it is a given that these diseases develop in a person from non-contagious origins. The causative variables of diseases like diabetes, chronic heart disease, lung diseases or certain forms of cancer are caused more likely by our lifestyle practices and habits.
Prolonged course of illness: NCDs are chronic in nature and thus the course of illness if often prolonged and takes years before a patient may be forced to opt for medical care or intervention.
Functional impairment or disability: NCDs usually give rise to circumstances that make it difficult for the patients to lead a normal life. Patients with chronic NCDs may not be able to take part in regular physical activity, go to the office or eat normally.
Complex aetiology: Non communicable diseases are driven by seemingly unrelated causes such as rapid unplanned urbanization, globalization of unhealthy lifestyles and population ageing. Apparent causes such as raised blood pressure, increased blood glucose, elevated blood lipids and obesity may be representations of deep lying lifestyle habits.

Causes of Lifestyle Diseases

There are multiple variables responsible for Lifestyle Diseases

Personal Risk variables: These are known as Non –Modifiable Risk variables, such as Age, Sex and Family history. It includes the variables which cannot be modified or changed.
Learned Behavioural Variables: These are characterised as Modifiable Risk variables, like sedentary life style, stress, smoking, alcohol, Diet. These variables can be controlled by adopting good behavioural practices along with disciplined lifestyle habits.
Background Health conditions: These include the certain health conditions becomes the precursors for NCDs.

Though according to the World Health Organization (WHO), some of the major risk variables for NCDs –

Alchohol - It has been found that drinking alcohol become the causative variable of health problems among men and women. Researchers observed relationship between drinking pattern and liver diseases, found that alcohol-related liver disease in India occurs at a much younger age as compared to other ethnic groups, also chances of metabolic syndrome prevailing dominantly among the people with alcoholic liver diseases.

Tobacco and Smoking - Most of the diseases associated with Lungs including lung diseases are associated with Tobacco and smoking, a direct relationship has been found among smoking and atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis and progression of lifestyle diseases. Researchers continue to pinpoint different ways smoking and tobacco harms human health, from cancers to chronic (long-term) diseases.

Environment - According to WHO,‟ World Health Organization says 12 million people die each year from air pollution, water pollution, chemical exposure, and other environmental variables. Lower-respiratory infections and diarrhoea related diseases among children are due to increasing environment pollution. Older people tend to have non-communicable diseases such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease. It has been estimated by the researchers estimated that the deaths of 1.7 million children under age 5, and 4.9 million adults ages 50-75, could be prevented by better environment management.

Poor diet intake - Eat a balanced diet”, heard this phrase quite often, but our pragmatic approach is always quite opposite to this phrase. As now a days we are more dependent on easy foods in the form of packaged and processed foods or in order to eat balanced meals, one start to adapt fad diets, which leads to skipping of one or the other essential nutrients required by the body for performing its functions. Poor diet intake cause diseases like obesity, cardiovascular diseases, pcos , and liver Diseases and so on.

Lack of physical activity - Sedentary or inactive lifestyle is found to be primary cause of chronic diseases like fatty liver, cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, metabolic syndromes, and premature deaths. Physically inactivity means burning less calories leads to gaining weight, poor blood circulation leads to loss of muscle strength, weak bone strength, hormonal imbalance. Researchers have found that physical inactivity leads to chronic diseases among children and adolescents. These can be prevented by adapting physical active lifestyle.

Urbanisation - Urbanisation means increase in number of people living in cities and towns, more and more people migrate from villages to cities. Shifts in the eating patterns, diet structures, exposure to pollution and lack of physical activity due to current job patterns led to obesity, cardio vascular diseases, and hypertension etc., observed specifically among citizens of developing countries.

Chronic Stress - Chronic stress means a consistent sense of feeling pressured and overwhelmed over a long period of time. Symptoms like irritability, anxiety, depression, restlessness etc. under stress start affecting one’s health specifically it begins to interfere with mental health. These symptoms affect the work productivity of an individual; hence there is a consistent dissatisfaction which leads to disruptive eating patterns and more dependency on the quick, easy and unhealthy food choices. Prolonged consumptions of these type of food lead to lifestyle disorder diseases.

Excessive consumption of processed and packaged food - According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), processed food is defined as any raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to washing, cleaning, milling, cutting, chopping, heating, pasteurizing, blanching, cooking, canning, freezing, drying, dehydrating, mixing, packaging, adding preservatives or other procedures. Packaged food means single foodstuff in a whole or partially, pre-packaged in the packaging so that its content cannot be altered/modified unless the packaging is opened or damaged. According to doctors, nutritionists processed foods are harmful for health, as they contain higher amounts of salt, sugar and unhealthy fat. These foods contain empty calories, which means that these foods lack in nutritional content and does not provide any satiety value, which ends up by consuming more food than the requirement and hence lead to lifestyle disorder diseases.

Types of Lifestyle Diseases

Though the list is endless when it comes to lifestyle disorder diseases,few of them are listed below:

Cronory Heart disease
Diabetes mellitus
Cataracts
Alzimers
Rheutomoid arthritis
Cancer
Thyroid Malfuction
Dementia
Lung diseases
Fatty liver
Obesity
Polycystic overies syndrome or disorder
Kidney Diseases
Gall stones

According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, NCDs burden in India is growing at an alarming rate, with the average age for onset falling sharply. So, NCDs are posing major challenges on the development and growth of country, by creating social and economic pressures specifically on the public health systems.

Conclusion

Conventional knowledge and attitude towards health choices by ignoring signs and symptoms of a disease was found to be a significant problem of prolonged non communicable diseases. Several researches suggest that early diagnose of the problem and timely intervention may lead to reduction of substantial risk related with the disease().Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have become a significant problem in many developing countries as the population is experiencing an epidemiological transition from infectious to non-communicable chronic diseases. In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, one need to practice healthy lifestyle practices, which not only include food choices but also involves physical activity and work habits. Although it has been observed that different individuals have different approaches for following healthy lifestyle practices. Lifestyle disorder diseases are biggest problem and one of the major complexities from our lifestyles, eating patterns and work cultures. In order to overcome this alarming situation, a disciplined lifestyle approach, which involves regularised sleeping patterns, regularised and planned dietary intake, Regularised physical activity , eating according to their regional diversity by adopting it according to family cultures and traditions one can lead to healthy life.