Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.

Lifestyle and Stress

What are Lifestyle Diseases?

Lifestyle diseases arise from unhealthy choices people make about how they live their life. People usually look at health as an absence of active pain, disease or disability. However, health is truly a more holistic concept. Lifestyle disorders are even more serious than infectious and communicable diseases. They may be slow to evolve and take years before they show any symptoms. But once they surface, they are difficult to cure. And the interesting and unfortunate truth is, that until people endure the symptoms, they aren’t inspired to do anything about their faulty habits. Prior to the pandemic, by 2030, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) or lifestyle diseases were projected to be the leading cause of death in every part of the world.

Some lifestyle diseases include obesity, lung disease, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, cancer and sudden death. Depression, stress and anxiety qualify as lifestyle diseases too as they arise from life choices. Unlike infections and genetic disorders, these are not transmitted from one person to the other, so they are also known as non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The burden that these diseases pose, the toll they take on the quality of life and the ease with which they can be prevented, make them a bigger focus today – for individuals as well as governments and health authorities. We just need to know how to live a better life.

lifestyle diseases are lethal

How Does Lifestyle Lead to Stress?

When our style of living is inappropriate, our body and mind are affected significantly. Everything becomes a stressor that supersedes our coping capacity. And our body is pushed to the ‘fight, fright, flight’ mode to protect itself. The foremost contributors include bad food habits, physical inactivity, inappropriate body posture, and a disturbed biological clock. The fast pace of life has diminished our capacity to fight stress and choose healthy lifestyle options. Hence the amplified the consumption of processed (comfort) foods, permitted odd meal timings (time mismanagement) and facilitated mindless (emotional) eating. All of this contributes to obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

Technology addiction has glued all eyes to mobile phones and laptop screens, worsening glaucoma and vision errors. Neck and back muscles are in constant strain and hence the resultant pain, fatigue and exhaustion. People take their cars to the doorstep of the office and sit at the desk for hours without any physical movement, that can otherwise assist blood circulation. Those working in night shifts witness a disturbed body clock and hence insomnia, indigestion, hypertension, acidity, loss of appetite, irritability, mood fluctuations and body pain. The mind is in constant flux and stress. And the body is paying for it.

Lifestyle Disorders: Fact 1

Unhealthy habits have astonishingly negative health harming effects. They take years to surface before we are even aware of the damage. That’s why we don’t pay sufficient heed to them.

Lifestyle Disorders: Fact 2

Healthy habits have surprisingly complex, yet positive health benefits. The only drawback is that results don’t seem obvious at the outset. We being myopic, focus only what lies before us now.

Lifestyle Disorders: Fact 3

It’s never too late to be who you thought you were destined to or wanted to or aspired to be. It’s better to do something, rather than nothing. And every little step makes a huge difference.

Lifestyle Disorders: Fact 4

Your genes determine your physical attributes, not attitudinal ones. Genes and brain cells are not static through life. They can be transformed. But you have to be willing to put in the effort.

Who is at Risk for Lifestyle Diseases?

Lifestyle disorders arise from unhealthy life choices. While this appears deliberate (it’s a choice after all), it can actually be a sub conscious process. Some personality traits enhance stress, support maladaptive coping, and make people mindless. The damage actually begins right there, making mindless and dysfunctional choices, and then getting addicted to them.

Competitiveness

People who are competitive are self-critical and show very little self-compassion. They struggle to accomplish their goals without any joy in the effort or thrill in their triumphs. Their work-life imbalance is exceedingly apparent. They are ‘wound up’ and stressed because they have too many people to race and overtake. They seldom realize the wrongness in their lifestyle choices.

Time Mismanagement

People who perceive a constant sense of urgency, are in a never-ending struggle against the clock. They get impatient and stress easily. This enhances unproductive time, after which they schedule commitments even more tightly. They multi task – like read while eating or exercise while watching TV. They feel they are optimizing productivity but are doing quite the opposite.

Hostility

Aggressive people are easily aroused to anger, which they may or may not express explicitly. They harbor resentment, tend to see the negative in others, and display annoyance, envy and enmity. Hostility outwards deflects inwards too leading to frustration and self-neglect. This enables more cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and immune function disorders.

Perfectionism

Perfect was always an enemy of the good. Perfectionism is built on the irony that mistakes are a part of being human. Failing to accept so, makes it harder to attain lofty goals, enhances stress and prevents healthy and adaptive life choices. When things don’t go the way some people want, they endlessly stress over it and completely demolish their health in the bargain.

Lifestyle and Stress Management with Dr Shefali

Lifestyle disorders are outcomes of wrong choices. Neural plasticity insists that our brains and bodies change from the cradle to the grave. It’s never too late to start afresh and make right choices now, to slowly reverse the damage caused by the wrong ones. At MindFrames we offer sustained and supportive guidance, and believe healing from stress is attainable. As a psychiatrist and psychotherapist practicing distinctive therapies, Dr Shefali guides you through cognitive, mindfulness and neurobehavioral milestones to help you think, feel and behave more purposefully.

Mindfulness in Stress

  • Change negative perceptions about life
  • Reduce the emotional hyper-arousal
  • Identify irrational worrisome thoughts
  • Defy distorted and fretful perceptions
  • Analyze the causes of wrong choices
  • Transform inability into powerfulness
  • Fight worthlessness, build self esteem
  • Inculcate logical problem-solving skills

Mindfulness Outcomes

  • Enhanced tolerance to frustration
  • Greater resilience and stress coping
  • Stress and worry trigger monitoring
  • Better social networking and support
  • Optimized life skills and better choices
  • Reclaimed self-confidence/ esteem
  • Realistic incentives for transformation
  • Awareness of negative automatisms

Avoiding drugs of abuse, eating healthy and on time, reducing stress, daily exercise, yoga and meditation; are all well researched techniques that are projected to enhance longevity and quality of life. Clean living is not impossible. It’s just that the finer details are effortful. Build your motivation. And let us help you with a structured guidance and wellness coaching protocol.

By identifying negative thinking patterns, you begin to see the damaging impact of bad choices more realistically and feel motivated to make better selections. The net result is an optimistic view to life, a calmer mood state, with fulfilling and healthy lifestyle alternatives.

If heredity deals you a set of cards, your lifestyle determines how you play with those cards. Your choices can reshuffle the whole deck too. After which, you can hit the jackpot of health.

References

  • Allen, L., (2017). Are we facing a noncommunicable disease pandemic? J Epidemiol Glob Health;7(1):5-9.
  • Toebes, B., Hesselman, M., van Dijk, J. P., & Herman, J. (2017). Curbing the lifestyle disease pandemic: making progress on an interdisciplinary research agenda for law and policy interventions. BMC international health and human rights, 17(1), 25.
  • Sharma, M., & Majumdar, P. K. (2009). Occupational lifestyle diseases: An emerging issue. Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 13(3), 109–112. WHO Projections of mortality and burden of disease to 2030 (Geneva: 2007).

Related topics

Latest Posts

Since I travel so much worldwide, I have been taking online sessions for lifestyle and stress related issues with Dr Shefali. It’s so convenient, flexible, and accessible!
CS, Paris, France
With her mindfulness approach, Dr Shefali ignited my drive to become stronger, self-aware, and a better person. She’s been kind, patient and understanding. I’m extremely grateful.
HH, Indore, India
Dr Shefali helped me delve into the root of my troubles to resolve them. And I achieved all this without any medicines, that's the most amazing part. I'm really thankful!
RG, Mumbai, India
I was hesitant to see a Psychiatrist but Dr Shefali made me realize that people shouldn’t go to a doctor just to solve problems; we need preemptive help to prevent them. Thanks!
SG, Mumbai, India
The ease with which I could open up, indulge and confess in front of Dr Shefali deserves applause. It's wonderful how she created this space to connect. And helped me survive and thrive.
SC, Rourkela, India
On my second visit to Dr Shefali, I got relief from an illness that had been haunting me for 35 years.The past 18 years of my life have been the most meaningful Thanks!
PS, Mumbai, India
I met Dr Shefali for chronic social anxiety (on-going for 14 years). I had almost given up on getting better. And now I am LIVING my life. Thank you, Doc for bringing me back to life!
SM, Mumbai, India

Get In Touch

Whatsapp Instagram Quora Spotify Linkedin Youtube Twitter Facebook-f