World Health Day 2025: Most common lifestyle diseases and their preventive measures

'Lifestyle disease' is a term that doctors keep on repeating and that, how, more than anything else, it is the basic way of living our lives, that is growing to be the villains of our lives.

Lifestyle diseases and how to identify them

As mentioned already, the root cause of the development of lifestyle diseases is our lifestyle itself. And the main reasons behind this are low physical activity, bad diet choices, and neglected mental health. Many people, while being a part of the rat race, forget how a little movement and a balanced diet is important to maintain good health. These aspects are very often downplayed, and taking care of it is considered time-consuming or costly.

On the other hand, some people say that it is simply unnecessary to care for themselves. Importantly, the above-mentioned problems do not concern adults only. More and more often, lifestyle diseases also affect very young people. Other risk factors of lifestyle diseases include smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs.

The causes of lifestyle diseases can be divided into two groups:

Indirect causes are those resulting from the progressive industrialisation and pollution of the environment but you can’t fully protect yourself against them.

But direct causes, which include a sedentary lifestyle, low physical activity, heavy alcohol and coffee consumption, unbalanced diet, smoking, as well as chronic stress and lack of rest. These factors can be limited or completely eliminated.

What diseases are the lifestyle diseases?

The list of diseases classified as lifestyle diseases is pretty long. The most common of them are:

Cancers like colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, head and neck cancers, mouth cancer

Cardiovascular diseases like ischemic heart disease, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and such

Diabetes (type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance)

Overweight and obesity

Depression, anxiety disorders, neurosis and addictions

Most diseases can be prevented effectively. However, it is necessary to abandon bad habits in favour of the good ones.

Lifestyle diseases - prevention

While we are not able to completely eliminate indirect causes, we can do a lot in the case of direct ones. The introduction of a few simple modifications will minimise the chances of getting lifestyle diseases. The most important actions include:

Regular examinations: A few basic examinations which can be used to detect many abnormalities in the body include blood counts and urine tests; if you notice any disturbing symptoms, you must see a doctor as soon as possible.

A balanced and healthy diet: Its composition should include a daily dose of fruits and vegetables, which are a source of beneficial fibre and many valuable vitamins and minerals. Along with these, you should eat foods that contain healthy fats like omega 3. Avoid long gaps in between meals, and stay away from deep-fried food, junk food and sugary drinks as much as possible.

Physical activity: According to the recommendations of WHO, the minimum dose of physical activity per week for adults is 150 minutes

Avoiding stress: Stress causes the release of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol, high concentrations of which, sustained for a long time, may disturb the functioning of the body. In order to minimise the negative effect of stress, it is worth learning relaxation techniques and making sure you have time to rest during the day

Getting enough sleep: The body, its cells and tissues regenerate during sleep.

For some people, implementing these changes may be a challenge. The complete abandonment of bad habits, often acquired over the years, can be a great difficulty, discouraging further action. In such cases, consider introducing them gradually.