Good health adds years to your life

Ask cardiologist Dr Shirish Hiremath to narrate one of the most shocking cases he handled and pat comes the example of a 26-year-old techie.

The youngster, who worked 18 hours a day, had no time to spare for exercise or sleep, ate food-on-the-go and could think of nothing beyond his annual raise, dropped down at his workstation one day.

“He had suffered a cardiac arrest and we were shocked as he was so young. However, his lifestyle said it all: high levels of stress, unimaginable work hours and fatigue, frequent smoker. It was a perfect recipe for disaster,” recalled Hiremath.

What’s more shocking is that cardiologists say that it is not uncommon to see younger men and women suffer from cardiac arrest.

“About a decade or so earlier, we would say the average age of patients was 60 years. Now we are forced to revise it to 45 years. The biggest contributing factor to early onset is stressful lifestyle, no attention to nutrition, frequent eating out and addictions,” he said.

Not just cardiac, but lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension and even obesity are catching people young.

“The theme for World Health Day is good health adds years to life. But it is equally true that unhealthy lifestyle takes away years from life. It is proven that obesity takes at least a decade off your life yet people continue living sedentary lifestyle,” said bariatric surgeon Dr Shrihari Dhorepatil. The youngest patient he operated on was a 14-year-old. “Even if a person is genetically disposed, he can combat obesity by lifestyle modifications. There is no alternate to exercise and diet,” he added.

Diabetologist Dr Shreerang Godbole agreed that lifestyle diseases like Type-II diabetes are catching people young. “People in their 30’s have started walking into our clinics with Type-II diabetes, which is shocking. Unlike childhood diabetes, Type-II is purely lifestyle related. Once started, it’s difficult to reverse even if a person later starts on exercise and diet.” said Godbole.

Besides unhealthy lifestyle, improper working habits or posture too can lead to serious problems. A study conducted by orthopedic surgeon Dr Kiran Shethe on information technology employees in Pune found that osteopenia affected a large majority of subjects. The condition indicates low bone density putting them at risk of bone pain, spine pain and ultimately leading to osteoporosis, an ageing-related disease.

“Nowadays we see youngsters with degenerative spine problems and postural deformities because of improper and long sitting hours, lack of Vitamin D-12 and D-3, lack of exercise,” said Dr Shethe. He blamed bumpy rides for spine problems.