Impact of Lifestyle on Health

According to religious, geographical, economic, cultural and political the people are using a way is lifestyle. It is means to the characteristics of people lived in a region in special time. It contains day to day activities and behaviors of people in diet, fun and job. Lifestyle is an important factor of health. Many people are following unhealthy lifestyle. Hence it results more illness, disability and further death. Problems include hypertension, overweight, violence and so on, these can be caused by an unhealthy lifestyle.

Life of people changes day by day. Unhealthy lifestyle means that unhealthy diet, malnutrition, smoking, alcohol consuming, drug abuse, stress and so on, that are the major lifestyle patterns included. The people faces new challenges, networks are lead main challenge that affects the physical and mental health of people. Misuse and overuse of the technology is the challenge.

Therefore, according to the existing studies, it can be said that: lifestyle has a significant influence on physical and mental health of human being. There are different forms of such influences. Consanguinity in some ethnicity is a dominant form of life style that it leads to the genetic disorders. Reformation of this unhealthy life style is a preventing factor for decreasing the rate of genetic diseases. In some countries, the overuse of drugs is a major unhealthy life style. Iran is one of the 20 countries using the most medications. They prefer medication to other intervention. Furthermore, in 15–40% of cases they use medications about without prescription. Pain relievers, eye drops and antibiotics have the most usage in Iran. While self-medications such as antibiotics have a negative effect on the immune system, if the individual would be affected by infection, antibiotics will not be effective in treatment. Overall, 10 percent of those who are self-medicated will experience severe complications such as drug resistance. Sometimes drug allergy is so severe that it can cause death.

Finally, variables of lifestyle that influence on health can be categorized in some items:

Diet and Body Mass Index (BMI): Diet is the greatest factor in lifestyle and has a direct and positive relation with health. Poor diet and its consequences like obesity is the common healthy problem in urban societies. Unhealthy lifestyle can be measured by BMI. Urban lifestyle leads to the nutrition problems like using fast foods and poor foods, increasing problems like cardiovascular.

Exercise: For treating general health problems, the exercise is included in life style. The continuous exercise along with a healthy diet increases the health. Some studies stress on the relation of active life style with happiness.

Sleep: One of the bases of healthy life is the sleep. Sleep cannot be apart from life. Sleep disorders have several social, psychological, economical and healthy consequences. Lifestyle may effect on sleep and sleep has a clear influence on mental and physical health.

Sexual behavior: Normal sex relation is necessary in healthy life. Dysfunction of sex relation is the problem of most of societies and it has a significant effect on mental and physical health. It can be said that dysfunctional sex relation may result in various family problems or sex related illnesses like; AIDS

Substance abuse: Addiction is considered as an unhealthy life style. Smoking and using other substance may result in various problems; cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancer, brain injury. According to the resent studies in Iran, 43% of females and 64% of males experience the use of hubble-bubble. A longitudinal study shows that 30% of people between 18–65 years old smoke cigarette permanently.

Medication abuse: It is a common form of using medication in Iran and it is considered as an unhealthy life style. Unhealthy behaviors in using medication are as followed: self-treatment, sharing medication, using medications without prescription, prescribing too many drugs, prescribing the large number of each drug, unnecessary drugs, bad handwriting in prescription, disregard to the contradictory drugs, disregard to harmful effects of drugs, not explaining the effects of drugs.

Application of modern technologies: Advanced technology facilitates the life of human beings. Misuse of technology may result in unpleasant consequences. For example, using of computer and other devices up to midnight, may effect on the pattern of sleep and it may disturb sleep. Addiction to use mobile phone is related to depression symptoms.

Recreation: Leisure pass time is a sub factor of life style. Neglecting leisure can bring negative consequences. With disorganized planning and unhealthy leisure, people endanger their health.

Study: Study is the exercise of soul. Placing study as a factor in lifestyle may lead to more physical and mental health. For example, prevalence of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease is lower in educated people. Study could slow process of dementia. (FARHUD, 2015).

Works Cited

1. Farhud, D. D. (2015). Impact of lifestyle on health. Iranian journal of public health, 44(11), 1442–1444.
2. World Health Organization. (2014). Noncommunicable diseases: Key facts. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
3. Gopinath, B., Hardy, L. L., Baur, L. A., Burlutsky, G., & Mitchell, P. (2011). Physical activity and sedentary behaviors and health-related quality of life in adolescents. Pediatrics, 128(6), e1493–e1500.
4. Knutson, K. L. (2010). Sleep duration and cardiometabolic risk: A review of the epidemiologic evidence. Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 24(5), 731–743.
5. Richter, D., & Berger, K. (2016). Postmodern Health: Critical Perspectives and Issues. Routledge.
6. World Health Organization. (2021). Tobacco. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco
7. McEwen, B. S., & Gianaros, P. J. (2010). Central role of the brain in stress and adaptation: Links to socioeconomic status, health, and disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186(1), 190–222.
8. Yazdani, S., Yaghoubi, A., & Mirzaei, M. (2017). Sleep quality and its relationship with lifestyle indices in patients with type 2 diabetes. The Scientific World Journal, 2017, 9805342.
9. Kandiah, J., Yake, M., & Jones, J. (2014). The relationship between dietary quality, serum vitamin D and depressive symptoms in an urban clinic. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 33(6), 481–486.
10. Thompson, W. G., Foster, R. C., Eide, D. S., Levine, J. A., & Fealey, R. D. (2008). Sleep duration and body composition in a nationally representative sample of adults. Sleep, 31(9), 1317–1326.