Chronic diseases are those ailments that are incurable and present themselves after a long period of time. Such ailments are most common in elderly individuals and include diseases such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes and obesity among others. They are currently the leading cause of high mortality rate among the elderly population globally. The major cause of such ailments is the environmental factors such as such as lifestyle and diet. There are a variety of ways that chronic diseases can be prevented which include lifestyle change, avoiding the use of tobacco, maintaining healthy weight and engaging in physical activities as discussed hereinafter.
Tobacco is among the major causes of chronic diseases (Low, Lee & Samy, 2015) . By one eliminating smoking of tobacco, they are at a low risk of contracting cancer. Diseases such as obesity can be prevented by individuals maintaining healthy weight levels. Overweight people are prone to contracting hypertension and type 2 diabetes as compared to individuals with lean bodies. Overweight and obesity increase the mortality rate that results from cancer. The optimal body weight should be maintained after the age of 20 and should not increase by more than 3 kilograms.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Physical activities such as engaging in daily exercises are vital in the prevention of chronic diseases (Mooreet et al., 2019) . Urbanization and increase in motor transport has highly reduced the rate at which people exercise and hence an increase in the number of individuals with chronic ailments. This is a major element when it comes to weight control and obesity. Other chronic diseases such as stroke and cancer can be prevented through regular physical activities. Such activities include walking for long distances, riding bicycle and running among others. Another method one can use to prevent such diseases is by individuals reducing the intake of saturated fats and through the consumption of the required amounts of polyunsaturated fats, vegetables and fruits. It is important for individuals to consume less salts and to engage in activities that can control weight (Whitney & Rolfes, 2018) . Reduction of salt intake prevents against cardiovascular diseases as it helps in reducing high pressure levels.
Physicians have recognized the effect of diet in relation to the prevention of chronic diseases especially cancer, diabetes, birth defects and cataracts among others (Di Daniele et al., 2017) . Modification of diet and lifestyle can help in the prevention of such ailments. It is important for people to access early screening and medical intervention early enough especially those in vulnerable population. Fragile fractures are a problem that is common among the elderly people. The condition can be prevented by consuming adequate levels of calcium and vitamin D in those populations that are vulnerable and are exposed to high risks of contracting the disease. Also, sunlight rays and engagement in physical exercises and strengthens muscles and the bones.
In conclusion, the rate at which mortality high rates result from chronic diseases is alarming. Most of the elderly people die from chronic ailments such as heart disease, cancer, stroke among others. Most of the deaths occur among individuals in low income regions who cannot afford medical services. However, death rates from such diseases are declining in high income countries and increasing in low income countries due to high population. However, the causes and prevention measures of most of the chronic diseases is common among the different ailments.
References
Low, W. Y., Lee, Y. K., & Samy, A. L. (2015). Non-communicable diseases in the Asia-Pacific region: Prevalence, risk factors and community-based prevention. International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health , 1-7.
Moore, G., Durstine, J. L., Painter, P., & American College of Sports Medicine. (2016). ACSM's Exercise Management for Persons with Chronic Diseases and Disabilities, 4E . Human Kinetics.
Di Daniele, N., Noce, A., Vidiri, M. F., Moriconi, E., Marrone, G., Annicchiarico-Petruzzelli, M., ... & De Lorenzo, A. (2017). Impact of Mediterranean diet on metabolic syndrome, cancer and longevity. Oncotarget , 8 (5), 8947.
Whitney, E. N., & Rolfes, S. R. (2018). Understanding nutrition . Cengage Learning.
