I would like to share a story of young Indian professional who does not had good eating practices, does not exercise or control his weight. He keeps on smoking, consumes alcohol and had habit of tobacco chewing. He got his first job at the age of 25 years, got married at the age of 30 years, got his first child at the age of 33-35 years, life just settles down, his first child starts going to school and second child is in the lap of his wife and he is about to celebrate his 40^th birthday but suddenly he had HEART ATTACK. For his family everything was over with in a matter of few minutes. He got timely treatment and recovered but now his life has changed. Now he starts valuing his health, he quit smoking, alcohol and tobacco etc. He started doing exercise and started having good eating practices.

“HEALTH IS ONLY VALUED WHEN IT IS LOST”

 “WE HAVE TO VALUE OUR HEALTH BEFORE ITS BEING LOST”.

How we can do that ?

We can do that with “LIFE STYLE MODIFICATION” which involves altering long term habits typically of eating, physical activity and maintaining the new behaviour for months to years. 1. EATING HABITS: We have to shift form consumption of foods with High Glycaemic Index to Low Glycaemic Index. (Glycaemic Index represents rise in person’s blood sugar level 2 hours after the consumption of food).

Physical Activity:

It decreases cardiovascular events, decreases blood pressure, improves lipid profile in both Diabetics and non Diabetics. Start with 10 minutes per day gradually increase to 20 min per day and then to 30 -40 minutes per day at least 5 days per week.

Smoking Cessation:

Lungs contains several million tiny bulbs called ‘Alvoli”. Their combined surface area is 70sq meters (Area of Tennis Court). Cigarette smoke has 5000 components and 43 out of these are carcinogenic. Smoking accounts for 21.5% deaths because of CAD, 18% deaths because of Stroke, risk of COPD increases by 10 folds and 20-40 times higher risk of lung cancer.

Benefits Of Smoking Cessation: 

• With in 20 mon heart rate and blood pressure drops
• with in 12 hours, carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
• with in 2-12 weeks, circulation improves and lung functions increases
• with in 1-9 months, cough and shortness of breath decreases
• 1 year risk of CAD decreases by 50%
• 5 years risk of Stroke decreases by 50%
• 10 years risk of Lung cancer decreases by 50%
• At 15 years, risk of CAD becomes equal to that of Non smoker

If you quit smoking at the age of 30 years your life expectancy increases by 10 years. At 40 years its 9 years, at 50 years its 6 years and at 60 years its 3 years. So early you quit, grater is the benefit

Alcohol:

80 grams/day ( >200ml of Whisky per day) for 10 years in males and for 5 years in females can lead to development of “CIRRHOSIS” which is preventable. Take home message is: “PLEASE VALUE YOUR HEALTH BEFORE ITS BEING LOST”