Prevention of chronic disease

Energy expenditure through physical activity is an important part of a person’s day-to-day activity that balances and maintains body weight. This emphasizes consideration of the impact of physical activity along with the aspect of diet, nutrition and health. Physical activity has great influence on body composition and is one of the major causes of overweight and obesity. Your diet plan and exercise programs are the most cost effective, affordable and sustainable course of action to combat chronic diseases. Modern dietary patterns like fastfoods and physical activity patterns like escalator and elevator are communicable risk behavior affecting us globally. Technology no matter how much convenience and comfort it has given us makes us pay the other way round – our health. Technology oftentimes makes us lazy to do more physical activity which makes us all the more susceptible to chronic diseases. Learn to walk those stairs on your way to the office and be able to breathe in and out and maintain your abs. Hmmnn are you aspiring to be sexy? Walk the stairs and trim those tummy and be healthy!

Understanding asthma

Asthma is characterized by airflow obstruction caused by alterations in the caliber of airways which gave rise to wheezing, coughing and tightness in the chest or simply shortage of breath. Increased prevalence and severity of asthma is directly related to inflammation of the lungs.

This inflammatory disease was observed to occur when there is chronic exposure to dust mites, allergens or other chemicals, strong odor, tobacco smoke and fumes. It normally occurs when there is stress, experiencing cold air or hyperventilation, there is change in weather upper respiratory tract viral infections and too much laughter or crying. Asthma usually occurs early morning or at night time. So you will see that the patient may be a little bit normal at daytime but increases coughing and wheezing at nightfall.

Narrowing of the airways is usually reversible but in some cases there may be an element of irreversible airflow obstruction. The lining of the airways becomes tighten and swollen while the muscles surrounding the airways tighten during an attack. This results to the inside of the airways becoming narrower which may also be blocked with mucus. This way air is no longer free to move in and out of the lungs because the sticky liquid plugs up the airways which seem to slow or stop the flow of air making breathing difficult.

Asthma attack may last for several hours to days ranging from slight breathlessness to not being able to breathe at all. Asthma may be chronic for some people where the illness may last for a long time or even a lifetime. Most people with asthma have airways that are very sensitive to things that do not bother other people. Asthma triggers vary from person to person. Oftentimes asthma and allergens go together but a person may have allergies without suffering from asthma. Likewise a person may have asthma but without allergies.

The human body

The human body is designed for movement and strenuous physical activity. Prolonged physical inactivity exposes individuals at greater risk for developing chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, obesity and musculoskeletal disorders. It has been noted that regular physical activity is the best defense against development of many diseases. To expend approximately 1000 kcal/wk you need to exercise 150 min/wk. Don’t you know that women who walk briskly for 1.25 to 2.5 hr/wk reduces their risk for breast cancer by 18%? It is apparent that health benefits of exercise depend on the frequency, intensity and duration of the physical activity. As you grow older you should be able to at least maintain or increase the volume of your physical activity. A listing below may help you calculate the amount of physical activity you have been doing and enjoy doing.

Gardening for 30 to 45 minutes, washing and waxing a car for 45-60 min, walking in 35 min, basketball for 30 min, cycling for 30 min, dancing fast for 30 min and water aerobics for 30 min are considered as less vigorous activities. The more rigorous ones are swimming laps for 20 min, running and stair walking. These activities are easy to do and do not need any expensive gym memberships to complete. I have a client at the bank before who walk or jog early morning then go to swim late afternoons. My God at the age of 50 she looks young like 30s or late 30s and very sexy. Believe me she looks healthy as she looks sexy. Now isn’t that a good motivator ladies?

Prevention of chronic diseases

Prevention of chronic diseases and the reduction of their impact are seen to be related to dietary and lifestyle changes. The role of diet is essential in preventing and controlling morbidity. Since rapid changes in diets and lifestyles have occurred with industrialization, economic development and market globalization, progress has significant impact on health and nutritional status of population. With the increase of inappropriate dietary patterns and decrease of physical activity is the corresponding increase of diet related chronic diseases. Changes in the world food economy are practically reflected in the shift of dietary patterns. Because of these changes, obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, stroke and cancer are increasingly fast becoming causes of disability and death.

Trends in shifting dietary patterns and increasing sedentary lifestyle are major risk factor for noncommunicable chronic diseases. Along with the increased tobacco use are the corresponding increased of diet related chronic diseases which is more common among the poor people. Nutrition is fast coming to the fore as major modifiable determinant of chronic diseases. Any alterations in diet have both positive and negative long term effects on health and life. Dietary adjustments may very well determine any person’s tendency to develop diseases like cancers, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in later life. This is to reiterate the importance of nutrition, diet and exercise in a person’s life even at a very young age. Developing recommendations for diet and nutrition and the need for sufficient physical activity is still best in the prevention of chronic diseases.