What if there was a hidden monster-hunting our life expectancy. A monster that no one talks much about, who doesn't make it to the headlines, but who is responsible for killing 41 million people prematurely each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally.
Something that's so dangerous, but at the same time could be easily fought with just a few little good habits.
Who's this monster?Â
Malaria? Tuberculosis? Maybe HIV? Wars? COVID-19? Or maybe some other well-known diseases…
Well, none of those above. You might be surprised to discover that Noncommunicable diseases are our atrocious hidden monster.
You might be wondering what are Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)?
The main type of NCDs, who account for 80% of premature deaths, are the following in descending order for the number of deaths each year:
Cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks, strokes): 18 million.
Cancer: 9.3 million
Respiratory diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma): 4.1 million.
Diabetes: 1.5 million.
The rise of NCDs has been driven by primarily four major risk factors:Â
Physical inactivity
Unhealthy diets
Alcohol
Tobacco
The hidden monster has been unveiled.
The driving causes that reap most victims are the lack of the minimum recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical daily activity, an unbalanced and unhealthy diet, and consumption of alcohol and tobacco.
Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are major contributors to overweight and obesity. Extra body weight increases the risk of serious health consequences, among the most common we find: cardiovascular diseases; diabetes; breast, colon, and endometrial cancers.
There are 2.6 million deaths each year as a result of being overweight and obese.
We all know how important it is to have an active lifestyle, a healthy diet, and reduce as much as possible consumption of alcohol and tobacco. What we don't know is how bad the consequences are of neglecting those. Premature deaths globally could be drastically reduced with prevention and raising awareness of how bad physical inactivity and unhealthy diets have an impact on our lives since awareness about the impact of alcohol and tobacco is more widespread.Â
At WHealthify we believe that health is your most valuable asset. WHealthify helps you optimize your time allocation to strengthen your health beyond the traditional money allocation to strengthen your wealth. A key outcome is helping prevent Noncommunicable diseases.
Through this article, with numbers at hand (source: WHO health topics on Noncommunicable diseases), we wanted to raise awareness about which are the major causes of premature deaths globally, what we should look after, and who is our real enemy.
Stay tuned through WHealthify for upcoming insights including the steps we can help you take for increased prevention of Noncommunicable diseases.
Get WHealthy,
Francesco