How to Keep away from Chronic Diseases

What are chronic diseases? Generally speaking, chronic disease is a preventable and noninfectious illness that is caused by poor diet structure, too much stress and lack of proper physical exercise. It is a type of disease related to our modern lifestyle. These diseases exist not only in the developed countries but also in the developing countries, even in the poorest place in the world. Moreover, there is a rising trend for these chronic diseases in the world. According to the data from CDC center, the situation is even worse in America that seven out of ten deaths are caused by the chronic diseases each year and 86% of the health care costs are used for treating chronic diseases. Daniel Lieberman writes in his book Story of the Human Body that those diseases contain some “cancers, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, strokes, kidney disease, some allergies, dementia, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and other illnesses” (Lieberman, 9) and a large number of people are afflicted by “lower back pain, fallen arches, plantar fasciitis, myopia, arthritis, constipation, acid reflux, and irritable bowel syndrome.” (Lieberman, 9) He also argued that many of those illnesses appeared extensively recently and kept growing in the world. He found that more and more chronic diseases were diagnosed in middle-aged people and this “epidemiological transition is causing not just misery but also economic woe.” (Lieberman, 9) Therefore, how to avoid these chronic diseases should be put on top priority for all young people who are still striving for a better life. In this paper, it is going to explore the significance of keeping a balanced diet, reducing the stress and taking part in the physical proper exercise.

A balanced diet can provide the body what it exactly needs, which keeps the mental and physical health of a human being. With suitable nutrients transformed to the energy that the body needs, the body will function well. But there is no single food can provide all the nutrition that a person needs. For instance, we may get carbohydrate from bread, cereals, potatoes or rice, etc.; we may obtain vitamins, minerals, and fibers from various fruits and vegetables; we may absorb calcium, protein, etc. from milk, cheese or other dairy foods, or from meat, fish, poultry, beans, eggs or nuts; we may gain much fat from sausages, butter, full-fat cheese, or meat pies, etc., much sugar from sweets, chocolate, cakes, etc., or much salt from salted and processed foods. Meantime, some nutrients a person requires may differ in accordance with their weight, age, or pregnancy, etc. Thus, we should take a varied diet from different foods to prevent deficiency or over-nutrition. For example, deficiency in calcium and vitamin D will make us suffer from bone problems; a high intake of salt may lead to an increase in blood pressure; too much sugar and fat will possibly make us suffer from obesity and diabetes. Besides that, Vicent Balanzá, a psychiatrist at La Fe University Hospital, argued that nutrition is a determining element “for the high prevalence and incidence of very frequent mental diseases, such as depression. A balanced diet is as important in psychiatry as it is in other medical specialties such as cardiology or endocrinology” and it has proven evidence to show the quality of a diet and the sufficiency or deficiency in essential nutrients play a critical role in sustaining physical and mental health. (RUVID) In a word, a balanced diet will give us the right types and quantities of foods to keep our brain and body working fitly.

Reducing the stress can protect us from both physical and psychological issues. Although some stress is conducive to our body, too much stress will make us suffer from both physical and mental problems. As the economic globalization develops, the competition for jobs is also intensified. After we, college students, graduate from universities, we will face more challenges from the labor market. The intensity of work and competition will inevitably result in high pressure on our brain and body. “…untreated chronic stress can result in serious health conditions including anxiety, insomnia, muscle pain, high blood pressure and a weakened immune system. Research shows that stress can contribute to the development of major illnesses, such as heart disease, depression, and obesity. Some studies have even suggested that unhealthy chronic stress management, such as overeating ‘comfort’ foods, has contributed to the growing obesity epidemic.” (APA) Hence, it is no doubt that stress can increase the risk of developing chronic diseases. Harrison Wein, Ph.D. also proved that there is some connection between stress and chronic diseases in his article. (Medicine Net) So, it is important to learn to reduce the stress. One of my best friends in my childhood ever liked to eat many sweets whenever she felt stressed. Consequently, she became very fatty. However, last year she changed her lifestyle. She attended some programs, like stress management, and therapeutic yoga, to control her emotions and weight. Finally, she managed to reduce her stress by participating various activities, and now she has much less weight than before. She is also happier than before. Another fact is, once a person gets a chronic disease due to excessive stress, not only his health will be affected but also his economic status will also be impacted. If his income is low, his financial condition will be worse. That will result in more stress for him, and he will be trapped in a vicious circle. Therefore, learn to cope with the stress can save us from troubles at the beginning.

The proper physical exercising is a low-cost but efficient way to maintain a healthy condition. Physical inactivity would gradually make our bones lose the ability to grow and repair. “…for an adult bone to achieve the right shape it must experience certain mechanical stresses while it grows. Every time you move, your body’s weight and muscles apply forces to your bones, which in turn generate very small deformations. These deformations are so slight that you don’t notice them, but they are large enough that cells in your bones constantly measure and react to them. In fact, these deformations are necessary for a bone to develop its appropriate size, shape, and strength.” (Lieberman, 422) If the bones don’t undergo the stress regularly, it might fail to develop well to support the brain and the whole body system. Lack of particular exercising for our bones, we may probably suffer from osteoporosis when we become old. Usually, the more physical activities we do, the stronger and healthier bones we can have. However, there are many unnecessary comforts in our modern lifestyle. Now many shoes are designed based on the comfort needs, e.g. adding unnecessary support for the foot arch and thicker soles. In fact, that would make our foot muscles and arches much weaker and further to develop to flat feet disease. Besides that, too much sitting in comfortable chairs also would harm our muscles and bones. Although sitting can save us much energy, endless hours of sitting, in turn, would cause muscle atrophy. To keep fit, we must get away from these comforts and take part in more physical exercises. The benefits of physical activities are far beyond bone and muscle building. According to CDC center, physical activities not only can decrease the risk of many chronic diseases but also can improve our whole health conditions. The regular physical activities can help us in weight management, risk reduction of many diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, and lung cancer), improving our mental health and mood, enhancing our ability to do daily activities and preventing falls, increasing chances of living longer. (CDC center) The most important thing is, it is an economical way to improve our quality of life. Everyone can afford it.

To summarize, although most of the chronic diseases are not communicable illnesses, they already cause severe misery on people mentally and physically and result in an enormous economic burden on both individual wellbeing and government expenditure. As the economic globalization progresses rapidly, the chronic diseases are developing towards the younger age of the population. Health is the basis of everything. Both the mental and the physical health matter for each person and each nation. Therefore, it is very urgent to make each of the young people know the situation and understand how to avoid these chronic diseases in advance. Through exploring the significance of keeping a balanced diet, reducing the stress and taking part in the proper physical exercise, we can get a better understanding of the adverse impacts and preventive actions of chronic diseases. A balanced diet will give us the right types and quantities of foods to keep our brain and body working fitly. Reducing the stress can protect us from both physical and psychological issues. The proper physical exercising is a low-cost but efficient way to maintain a healthy condition. By the three means of lifestyle modification, we can have the chance to keep away from chronic diseases to live a healthy modern life.