Inappropriate Lifestyle; the Factor Behind Growth of Non-Contingent Diseases

Change, viewing the past differently, being modern, dismissing traditions or accepting new beliefs, all set the grounds for undesirable situations in Iran and the world.

Industrialization, growth of industrial products, entering large numbers of vehicles to railways and cities of industrial communities, population increase, extreme production of industrial and respiratory pollutants, climate change due to global warming and industrial life in general have imposed certain conditions on people’s life.

In the meantime, health, well-being, esprit, and hope are among elements that underwent serious harms and affected people’s mental and physical health greatly.

Besides the above problems, nowadays improper nutrition and smoking have also increased non-contingent diseases.

People’s new trend to satisfy their body needs by eating fast foods, and high fat, high-calorie, sugary, carbonated, salty foods has jeopardized the health of the society and increased the growth of non-contingent diseases.

Diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, heart and brain strokes, respiratory problems, obesity, etc. are among the most significant diseases that human beings themselves have caused them by their tendency toward above changes.

We should take into consideration that the death of about 40 million people around the world due to non-contingent diseases and more sadly is the fact that of this population 14 million people died prematurely, and about 85 percent of them live in developing countries.

In Iran, 113 thousand premature deaths occur within the age range of 30-70 years, of which 17 percent die due to four main non-contingent diseases, i.e., cardio-vascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.

Excessive smoking among men and women is notable and villagers smoke more cigarettes a day.

The lowest tax rates for smoking in Iran compared to other countries might be one of the reasons behind excessive smoking in our country.

Eating high-cholesterol, high-calorie foods has also worsened the problem and advertising on harmful products has created false need to these products especially among children and teenagers.

In the second part of this article, the above changes can be named changes in the lifestyle; the change that can be regarded as the main cause of people’s health, treatment and mental problems.

Eating foods that have no effect on human physical health has caused immovability besides excessive calorie intake to set the grounds for obesity and non-contingent diseases including cardio-vascular diseases and diabetes and finally heart and brain strokes.

The main point here is that why people continue this trend and are not willing to take a fundamental measure, and why they accept the first phase of these changes only in the process of treatment (after being affected by the diseases)?

Maybe, the main reason why people tend to go on this way is that they find this inappropriate lifestyle to be enjoyable.

Fried and fast foods, easy access to conserved and canned foods (containing preservative materials), availability of private cars and immobility and eventually electronic life (that prevents from enough motion in people’s lives) all are among the joys of today’s life.

No resistance to this lifestyle and busy life of the technology era prevents people from thinking about their own lives, and caused the share of death rate due to non-contingent diseases to reach to 70 percent of all the diseases.

It is worth noting that experts, physicians and health authorities emphasize consumption of enough and appropriate healthy foods, fruit and vegetables and avoiding fast foods.

Using appropriate food that the body needs might be the main cause of reducing non-contingent diseases. In this brief articles, interesting points made by Islam and Holy Imams about type, time and size the food consumed are presented.

Imam Reza (pbuh) says, eat when you are hungry, and drink when you are thirsty which keeps you healthy.

Emphasizing eating moderately and avoiding over-eating (an undesirable habit grown among us), he stated: “one who eats too much will not feed from that food, and one who eats moderately benefits from the food”.

It should be noted that the type of food and the way we eat affects our spirits and character which we expose it to others when we communicate with them.

Even psychologists today note the effect of food on human character and temper and believe that the type of food we consume affects our high or low temper.

Diseases like nutrition disorders about which national and foreign psychologists argue, or neurotic reactions of stomach to sorrows of life indicate the reciprocal effect of mind, body and the type of nutrition.

Drinking alcohol or taking industrial narcotic materials that negatively affect human mind proves that if what we take is not healthy, they can isolate us mentally and create physical problems.

The important point made by Imam Reza (pbuh) that: “God has not permitted any drink or nutrition unless there is benefit in it” indicate that enough care should be taken when eating and drinking.

However, forming proper habits for principled and correct nutrition is very fundamental in this regard.

Those who are familiar with less eating or fasting (during the month of Ramadan) in Islam appreciate the Holy Prophet’s saying: “stop eating before you are full”.

To have a healthy body and mind, we may reduce speed in the age of electronic technology at least for nutrition and contemplate more on the body’s basic need to health and the food we eat.

Using fresh and healthy food, eating moderately, eating when hungry and before getting full, using less sugar, salt and fat in daily food, avoiding carbonated drinks and omitting them from life, avoiding fast foods and sandwiches, consuming less preserved food and having enough vegetables, fruits and dairy can all have positive effects on our health.

Besides proper nutrition, enough motion during the day and regular walking for 45 minutes on average can greatly reduce contingent diseases in the country.

According to the latest statistics form studies in Iran, the situation for smoking and fruit and vegetables consumption remains unchanged, immobility is increasing, and following that obesity is also increasing.

It might not be unreal to believe that people in the past were healthier physically and mentally due to consuming fresh, low-fat, nutritive, natural foods and no inappropriate foods (soft drinks, preserved foods, fast foods, freezed food, fried food, etc.).

To escape obesity or malnutrition, the present generation has to fundamentally revise its eating habits to be able to live a healthy life.