healthy lifestyle

From The Star,

Many Malaysians not aware of killer disease

KUALA LUMPUR: More Malaysians are dying from atherothrombotic events than cancer.

This alarming trend is expected to worsen in the years to come, especially since many Malaysians are not aware that atherothrombosis, one of the world’s worst killer diseases, is the common underlying cause of heart attacks, strokes and peripheral arterial disease. ……..

Many Malaysians remain oblivious to the dangers that artherothrombotic diseases bring. These are collective diseases affecting blood vessels leading to debilitating diseases like strokes and heart attacks. Ultimately, much of the cause of this is due to an unhealthy lifestyle.

Take smoking for example. Despite intense efforts against cigarrette smoking, many young people continue to smoke. Many remain defiant giving reasons like “so and so did not smoke but still died of cancer” or ” my grandma is over 90 and she smokes like a chimney”. They have decided to focus on the lucky minority and chose to ignore the great majority that have succumbed to diseases related to this menace.

A healthy and balanced diet is ideal but in a country like Malaysia, where all the delicious delicacies are often not healthy, trying to keep healthy can be a tough task. Many blame it on the increasing influence of Western style foods like MacDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken but little did they realise that much of local dishes are actually not cooked in a healthy style. Many of them are rich in “santan” or are deep fried.

The importance of adequate exercise cannot be overemphasised. Unfortunately not many, including doctors themselves, do not find enough time to get the much needed workout. As opposed to popular belief, working is not equivalent to that of a continuous exercise regime.

There are many other factors contributing to the incidences of atherothrombotic diseases like diabetes,hypertension, stress and genetical influences.

I believe that contrary to the headline above, malaysians are actually aware of such diseases but have decided to ignore them. Many have the illusion that they will never be affected. If unchecked, it will definitely lead to a deleterious outcome.