Your Life-Style—What Are the Risks?
IN MANY ways health trends have never looked brighter. A 1998 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) says: “More people than ever before now have access to at least minimum health care, to safe water supplies and sanitation facilities.” To be sure, much of the world’s population still endures poor living conditions, but as the British Broadcasting Corporation reported, “poverty around the world has been reduced more in the last 50 years than in the previous 500 years.”
Improvements in the world’s health-care systems have added years to the worldwide average life expectancy at birth. In 1955 the average was 48 years. By 1995 it had jumped to 65 years. One reason for this increase is the advances made against childhood diseases.
Just over 40 years ago, children under five years of age accounted for 40 percent of all deaths. By 1998, however, thanks to vaccines, many of the world’s children had been immunized against the major childhood diseases. Thus, the number of deaths for children under the age of five has fallen to 21 percent of all deaths. According to WHO, there has been “an unmistakable trend towards healthier, longer life.”
Of course, a longer life with little improvement in its quality would be a hollow victory. In a search for better living conditions, many people place great emphasis on material pleasures. Such a life-style, however, can carry its own set of health risks.
A Better Life-Style?
Recent socioeconomic developments have ushered in tremendous changes in peoples’ life-styles. It is now possible for many in the developed nations to purchase goods and services that previously only the wealthier could afford. And while some of these advances have increased the prospect of a longer life, many people have been enticed into a self-destructive life-style.
For example, millions have used their increased buying power to purchase such nonessentials as addictive drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Sadly, the results have been all too predictable. “The fastest growing public health menace in the world isn’t a disease,” says World Watch magazine, “it’s a product.” The magazine adds: “Within 25 years, tobacco-induced illness is expected to overtake infectious disease as the leading threat to human health worldwide.” Moreover, Scientific American says: “An astonishing 30 percent of fatal cancers can be blamed primarily on smoking, and an equal number on lifestyle, especially dietary practices and lack of exercise.”
Without a doubt, the choices we make about the way we live have a major impact on our health. How, then, can we maintain or improve our health? Are diet and exercise enough? Additionally, what part do mental and spiritual factors play in a healthy life-style?