Leading Causes of Death in the USA - Essay Example

Heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes mellitus are leading causes of death in the United s. When viewing my family tree I noticed that somediseases like hypertension and diabetes were inherited from my grandparents to my parents. I also noticed that some other inherited unhealthy habits include smoking, although none of my parents or siblings smoke or drink. There are many risk factors that are linked to genetic, environmental and behavioral causes and they can lead to other diseases. Yet we must not forget that they are easy to manage and control since they are strongly connected with a person’s diet and physical activity. When tracking my family tree history, I noticed that my uncles and aunts (from the sides of both my parents) suffer from similar diseases that afflicted my grandparents or share the same habits, particularly when it comes to the habit of smoking. It is hard to determine what risk factors are associated with diabetes and hypertension, heart diseases, pneumonia and Alzheimer’s. However, what most of my family has in common is their diet which has food items that are high in cholesterol content and the number of calories. Along with these there a few unhealthy habits in common such as smoking and lack of physical activities. When it comes to my overall health, it’s not perfect. I have suffered from irritable bowel syndrome since I was 15 years old, which is mainly due to my unhealthy diet, stress and lack of physical activity. After being diagnosed by irritable bowel syndrome I started to engage more in physical activities and tried to maintain a healthy diet with the help of my family members. However, when I traveled to the United States for my university studies, my old habits kicked back and I soon started eating fast food and missing on exercises. In fact, when school starts I never go to the gym and I always depend on ordering fast food. Also, sometimes I only eat one meal a day which happens when I have a busy day at school. Through my family tree, the main factors that have affected me in the past and which, I believe will continue to affect my health in the future, are my diet, stress and lack of physical activity. I am also aware that stress can lead to hypertension, arteriosclerosis and stroke, while having an unhealthy lifestyle can cause diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Many of my family members (including my parents) are diagnosed with diabetes, heart disease and hypertension; which means that these diseases might affect me in future if I do not take the adequate precaution and preventive steps. According to the textbook, at the assessment of a person’s heart disease risk; I scored 8%, which is classified as a moderate risk. Indeed, the assessment indicates that I need to lower my LDL by improving my lifestyle and getting rid of all unhealthy habits. It said that if I am able to drop my LDL, I will be able to prevent myself from heart disease. In addition to this, to prevent myself from onset of diabetes and hypertension, it is important to improve my diet and increase levels of physical activity. According to the textbook, lack of physical activity and irregular diets with high amount of sugar, calories, saturated fat and salt causes diabetes, obesity, hypertension and heart disease. Also, some chronic diseases increase the risk of getting other diseases. With respect to my weight, I do not suffer from being overweight or have the habit of drinking alcohol or smoking. However, I do lack a physically active and eat food that contain high amount of sugar and calories. To reduce the risk of getting diabetes, increasing my physical activity would be the best solution. According to the American Diabetes Association, aerobic exercise such as brisk walking, swimming or dancing, improves a person’s overall health, especially the condition of the heart. It also brings in a feeling of relief and reduces stress levels. Regular aerobics also works on regulating the blood circulation and keep the blood level and cholesterol at its natural level. Simple activities such as walking and climbing stairs help to keep diabetes at bay. Flexible exercises and strength training also plays an important role in decreasing the risk of diabetes as they help to strengthen the heart, muscles and bones. Next on, hypertension is another disease that several of my family members were diagnosed with. To prevent hypertension, I need to exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. Indeed, physical activity helps to reduce the blood pressure. Physical activities that are used to prevent diabetes are important and can be used to reduce the risk of hypertension. I also feel that we can effectively reduce stress levels by joining yoga classes or relaxation sessions. Accordi7ng to me, regular monitoring of blood pressure is important as it helps to predict if a person has high or low blood pressure and prompts us to take immediate action to regulate high/low blood pressure and bring it to correct levels. It is very important to note here that designing a healthy diet is useful to manage and control the multiple risks of getting heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. For diabetes, the diet should ideally contain less sugar, fat and calories. In fact, to reduce the risk of getting diabetes, the diet should contain whole grains with fewer carbohydrates. It is intriguing to know that studies have proved that eating more whole grain a day reduces the risk of getting Diabetes II by 21%. Whole grain contains bran and fiber that prevent enzymes from breaking down the starch content into glucose and thus, lowers the glycemic index. Needless to say, eating rice, mashed potatoes, doughnuts, and other sugary and high carbohydrate food, increases the risk of getting diabetes. Studies indicate that people who eat white rice every day had 17% risk of getting diabetes and people who eat brown rice had 11% risk of the same. To reduce the risk of getting diabetes drinking less soda is important. In addition to this, eating liquid vegetables oils, nuts and seeds is good for health as these food items contain polyunsaturated fat that help to reduce chances of diabetes. Limitations in the diet include food such as red meat and processed meat, in order to reduce the risk of diabetes. We can choose fish and poultry, nuts and whole grain instead. To decrease hypertension, the ideal diet should contain less caffeine because it can increase the blood pressure easily. You must note here that a major factor that helps to prevent hypertension is reducing sodium content in diet. According to Mayo Clinic, reducing small portions of sodium can decrease the blood pressure by 2 to 8 mm. In addition, reducing sodium in the diet is useful to older people who have diabetes and kidney diseases as well. In order to reduce the sodium it’s important to track amount of salt in the food and we can do this by reading food labels. On the contrary, however, it is well known that if a person consumes more sodium, it increases the amount of potassium in the body that balances the blood level. Adding fiber to the diet also plays an important role in protecting a person’s health as they prevent diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. According to the textbook, high fiber and low fat food helps to maintain healthy blood glucose and blood insulin levels. It also reduces the risk of getting heart diseases and different types of cancer (450). Indeed, drinking fresh vegetable juice works to improve the overall health. Vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, carrots, pumpkin, beans, and peas help to decrease diabetes. Studies have indicated that garlic has more effect in regulating blood pressure than taking pills that lower blood pressure. Moreover, to prevent other diseases such as cancer, folate and antioxidant vitamins in food are good. They protect from esophagus and colon cancer. In fact, folate encourages synthesis of DNA in cells. It must also be noted that vegetables and fruits that contain vitamin C, D, E, and calcium helps to reduce risk of getting cancer. However, diets that contain iron increase the risk of cancer as iron alters the process of creating DNA in cells. Foods that contain high protein such as high meat diet contain iron and must be avoided. Read More