Let's face it. Nobody's perfect. We all have bad habits we struggle to bid goodbye to.
We just can't seem to shake them. Cigarettes dictate terms to some people ; others can't say no to alcohol. There are some who crave for sweets all the time and there may be some who could waste hours lying on a couch in front of a television.
As much as we may want to make more healthful choices, change is difficult. Even the awareness that our behaviors can harm us often isn't enough to make us mend our ways. On many occasions, people are fully aware that their habits and behaviour can yield bad to fatal results but they just can't make the first move to get rid of them. Even if someone makes the first move, it's an ordeal to carry on with the process and many succumb midway.
People who have already suffered cardiac diseases, diabetes, or other lifestyle-related illnesses - people who very well know the aftermath of their behaviours - often have a difficult time turning things around. It seems that it takes something more than a wake-up call, even a life-threatening one, to get people to give up their bad habits.
Studies have shown that at least 40% of the smokers who manage to survive a heart attack are found puffing away a year later. If you think that an obese guy would slim down after a heart attack, you're wrong. Most of the people just couldn't kickstart the weight management programme. Researchers at an American university closely observed a group of 1,200 men and women for a year following a heart attack. The results were shocking. The people lost an average of just 0.2% of their body weight. For a man weighing a 100 kg, it would translate to less than 450 gm of weight loss.
If a heart attack is not capable enough of grabbing a person's attention what about cancer? You must have guessed the answer by now. Studies in Canada have revealed that only a handful of cancer survivors adopt a healthy lifestyle. Many gave up smoking but could still not compromise with their dietary habits. Less than 20% were consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables in a day and less than 50% of the survivors indulged in physical activity. Overall, only one out of 20 survivors had imbibed all three principles of healthy living in his life.
To a great extent, lifestyle factors govern a patient's recovery from an illness. They can have a drastic effect on person's overall health and quality of life. In fact, lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet and physical activity strongly influence how rapidly many diseases will progress. Research has shown that individuals who quit smoking after their first heart attack were 37% less likely to die of another heart attack in the future. Similar studies have pointed out that individuals who pick up an exercise-based rehabilitation programme after a heart attack are 30% less likely to die of another one.
Impacts of lifestyle changes are not solely related to cardiac disorders. Kicking the cigarette butt can improve the outcome of diseases such as diabetes and emphysema (a deadly lung disease). Weight loss has been found to dramatically improve asthma, sleep apnea and several other ailments. Physical activity also helps in battling depression and hypertension and also has a protective effect against some types of cancer.
So why is it that many patients fail to get these messages? Partly, the doctors often fail to provide sufficient and good counselling. It's extremely important that doctors discuss all such lifestyle related issues with their patients. If your doctors skips discussions on such issues, do not hesitate from bombarding him with questions. While there are many people who have all the awareness but can't give up the bad habits due to a lack of willingness, there are many who are oblivious about such details.
Getting people to alter the habits they had clung on to for such a long time can be a daunting task. But it's certainly not impossible. People must understand that the good results of changing their lifestyle will outweigh the investment of time and energy (and the hassles) involved in the process of bringing about those changes. Once people make a formidable resolve, they normally do some strategising. They don't jump straight to the action, rather, they begin by making small adjustments in their lifestyle. (Trying to rush through the steps of changes is not advisable). Only after this, the people are ready to take action and start with full-fledged attempts to bring the changes.
A change needs to be maintained. It's no good giving up alcohol only to gulp rivers of whisky down your throat after a few months.
It would indeed be a wonderful thing to extract opportunities out of illnesses, opportunities to bring about a drastic lifestyle change. At least, one should be “better late than never”. An illness can prove to be an opportunity to stop pretending that our bad habits don't hurt us and to take the initiative to make healthful change. (MensXP.com)
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