Health should be one of the most important priorities in everyone’s life because nothing else matters if you have a health condition that prevents you from doing the activities you love to do. No one wants a lower life expectancy.
Most people usually end up suffering from one of what is known as the “big four” diseases, these are; cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and lung disease which are the leading causes of preventable death or disability in most countries.
Medical experts agree that you can certainly reduce your risk of getting one of these chronic diseases by changing your lifestyle. The reason for the reduced risk comes from the fact that these commonly occurring diseases also share common conditions or risk factors that directly relate to everyday personal health habits.
The first step towards healthy living is always prevention, if this cannot be accomplished, then you have to deal with the best ways to cope with your chronic condition.
Lifestyle Choices for Disease Prevention
It is advisable to focus on making healthy lifestyle changes as early as possible so that you get the benefits of being statistically less probable of getting some of the most common diseases. Here are some of the what you can do to lower your risk of disease:
Eat Healthily
To maintain a healthy weight and lower cholesterol to reduce the risk of disease one must eat a healthy and balanced diet. This includes high fiber, low fat, and between 5-10 servings of fruit and vegetables every day. Experts from goutandyou.com advise that alcohol and high fructose corn syrup sugar, which are added to most processed sweets and drinks, are some of the few common denominators in many diseases like gout, which, according to this reliable site, may be treated by maintaining a healthy diet and natural remedies. Avoiding processed food is a must because they are linked to certain risks of cancers.
Become More Physically Active
It is recommended that you find an exercise activity that you like and get moving. It is important to perform this activity every day so that you maintain healthy body weight and keep your heart muscle strong and healthy.
Achieve and Stay at a Healthy Weight
Overweight or obese people are associated with an increased risk of diabetes, heart diseases, and some cancers. For women, this risk is said to be 3 times higher in comparison to those with a healthy weight.
Monitor Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can cause damage to the walls of your arteries by causing tears and bulges or possibly slowing the hardening of your arteries. Your blood pressure should be checked regularly by yourself or your physician even if you think you have regular blood pressure. Ways to improve your blood pressure is by ensuring you are the appropriate weight for your height, keeping salt intake down, and being physically active.
Limit Alcohol Intake
Drinking too much alcohol can put one at risk for different kinds of cancers, such as cirrhosis. Too much alcohol is unhealthy, even though there is some evidence that moderate drinking may offer some health benefits. Moderate drinking is considered on average one drink for women or a maximum of two drinks for men per day.
Quit smoking
Smokers have the highest risk factors of getting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, heart attack, and stroke. Studies have found that people who quit smoking by age 40 reduce the risk of smoking-related death by 90%.
Reduce Stress
Stress may increase your cholesterol level, blood pressure while leading to heart attack and stroke, as well as, lead to mental health problems such as depression.
Sleep Well
Sleeping restores your body and has a hugely positive effect on your immune system. If one is having trouble sleeping it could be due to their diet or body’s vitamin deficiencies.
If it is too late to prevent your condition and you have already been diagnosed with it. Then it is very important that to best cope with it you should obtain as much information as possible around your condition, this would include getting information on how your prescription medication works or their side effects.
Another way to cope with a chronic health condition is to ensure that you are visiting your healthcare provider regularly to get regular measurements of your body and how your condition is changing. If more extensive health management is required it is better to catch something earlier than leaving it for later.
It is also important from a mental health perspective to always talk with other people who suffer from the same condition about what medications and other remedies worked best for them to get some type of relief and cope with it. It is always important to stay positive because mental health has very important effects on your physical body.