Youth Pose Great Threat Against Lifestyle Diseases

A great health threat is faced by the youth with improving economy and changing lifestyles. It is more of a problem in urban families.

The main factors contributing to lifestyle diseases include bad food habits, physical inactivity, wrong body posture, and disturbed biological clock. A report, jointly prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Economic Forum, says India will incur huge loss due to unhealthy lifestyles and faulty diet.

Two out of 3 employees in India are victims of stress in the cities. India is also the diabetes capital of the world. Studies say that the possibility of an Indian suffering from a lifestyle disease is 4 per cent more than one of any other nationality. Technology advancement has always tried to make our living environment to adapt as per our requirement rather than acclimatization of our self according to the environment. While this has made our lives easier and useful for other purposes, it has also made it as technically, physically inactive and unfit.

Long working hours are fixed by the employers and the young employees are constantly engaged in spending hours in front of the computer screen, working. They are not realising that they are moving towards an even more unsecured future as they are becoming more vulnerable to serious health risks.

According to a survey conducted by the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), 68% of working women in the age bracket of 21-52 years were found to be afflicted with lifestyle ailments such as obesity, depression, chronic backache, diabetes and hypertension. In India, 10% of adults suffer from hypertension while the country is home to 25-30 million diabetics.

Some of the common diseases encountered because of occupational lifestyle are Alzheimer’s disease, arteriosclerosis, cancer, chronic liver disease/cirrhosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, nephritis/CRF, and stroke. A healthy lifestyle must be adopted to combat these diseases with a proper balanced diet, physical activity and by giving due respect to biological clock.

The most prevailing lifestyle disorders are induced by stress. Stress causes many diseases like obesity, mental disability, Alzheimer’s, arteriosclerosis and gastrointestinal disorders. People now-a-days are ageing very fast due to their work stress. Anxiety due to change in sleep pattern or improper sleep is leading to mental illness.

To decrease the ailments caused by occupational postures, one should avoid long sitting hours and should take frequent breaks for stretching or for other works involving physical movements. A diet of only junk food, overeating and lack of physical activity are not only responsible for diseases related to nutrition, but also anorexia nervosa, which involves many people starving themselves for maintaining their figure. This type of disease is more prevalent in the fashion and showbiz industry.

The situation demands a general growth of awareness among today’s youth and shaking them from their complacency towards the self-destructive lifestyle they have adopted, and requires to make them realize the dangers posed by it. It calls for implementation of workplace health programmes, as the workplace environment largely influences the youth to promote better health behaviour.