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Impact of Modern Lifestyle on Health

Article · December 2022

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Anuradha Parasar
Galgotias University
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Abstract: Modern lifestyle has increased the risk of various physical and psychological health
problems. The unhealthy lifestyle of people in the modern world has exposed them to various
illnesses, disabilities and even deaths. The various metabolic diseases that are a result of these
modern lifestyles are obesity, hypertension, cancer, cardiovascular problems, diabetes and other
health problems. A proper discussion of the impact of the various aspects of the modern lifestyle
on our health has been done in the below article. It has been found that millions of deaths across
the globe are occurring due to the choices of the modern lifestyle. Hence, it is only important to
make appropriate changes to the modern lifestyle to reduce the negative impact on health.
Regular exercise, a balanced diet and improved sleep patterns are some of the effective steps that
can be taken to improve health outcomes.

Keywords: Lifestyle, health, diseases, sleep, diet, smoking

1. INTRODUCTION

Lifestyle has an important role to play in the quality of life and health conditions of people in
society. A healthy lifestyle is something that includes physical exercises, the right diet and
proper weight. Lifestyle has a significant impact on the physical, social and psychological health
of an individual in the society. Hence, it is very important to build a healthy lifestyle by creating
the right balance between diet and fitness. However, the modern lifestyle is something that is
quite unhealthy and increases the risks of various physical and psychological problems. The
modern lifestyle is defined by alcohol consumption, smoking, fast food, unhealthy diet, overuse
of technologies and substance abuse (Macia et al. 2021). All of these are prevailing in our
society which is leading to various problems for the people living in it. The impact of the modern
lifestyle is quite concerning and something that needs to be communicated in an effective

1
Ph.D. Research Scholar, School of Liberal Education, Galgotias University,Greater Noida ,Uttar
Pradesh, India, Email: [email protected]
2
Professor, School of Liberal Education Galgotia University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. Email:
[email protected]
manner to create awareness along with appropriate support for a healthy lifestyle. Hence, the
purpose of this article is to examine the impact of modern lifestyle on the health of an individual.
2. METHODOLOGY
The article has been written with the help of secondary sources of information that are accessible
and published in the past five years. Peer-reviewed journals and online articles that have been
published have been selected to complete the article. A wide range of information from a variety
of sources was explored in the way of gathering all the necessary insights on the topic. The
gathered insights have been presented in the next section of the article in the form of paragraphs
to build a logical and coherent discussion around the topic. The use of secondary sources of
information helped with the gathering of a large amount of data on the topic to gain a
comprehensive idea of the subject matter.
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
The choices that we make on a daily basis have a significant impact on our health and these
choices include the things we eat, how much we move and career choices that were have made.
The modern lifestyle has witnessed the prevalence of various choices that are unhealthy like
alcohol consumption, substance use and smoking. People have become addicted to these choices
which are the cause of various health problems. These unhealthy addictions are responsible for
various health issues like asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer and brain injury (Balwan &
Kour, 2021). These addictions are also responsible for mental health issues like depression and
anxiety. Lifestyle habits like alcohol consumption and smoking are responsible for the deaths of
millions of people every year. Smoking is responsible for more than 8 million deaths every year
of which 7 million are from direct use of tobacco and 1.2 million are due to exposure to smoking
by non-smokers (WHO, 2022). Alcohol consumption, on the other hand, is responsible for more
than 3 million death and is also a common factor in 200 injuries and diseases (WHO, 2022). The
most number of deaths due to smoking occurs among men while the Western-Pacific region
witnesses the most deaths due to smoking where there were 2.6 million deaths in the region in
2019 due to this unhealthy lifestyle (WHO, 2022).
 Figure 1: Tobacco-attributable deaths worldwide in 2019, by region and sex
(Source: Elflien, 2022)
Sleep deprivation or poor sleep patterns has become an epidemic in today’s environment due to
people’s lifestyle choices. Sleep is an important factor that contributes to good health and it is
advised that people should try to get at least seven hours of sleep every day. Sleep helps with the
recovery from the various physical and mental pressure that is experienced by our body on a
daily basis (Tobaldini et al. 2019). However, it has been found that one-third of adults are not
getting enough sleep and this is primarily due to modern lifestyle choices like caffeine, too much
alcohol, irregular work timings, more screen time and stress. Deprivation of sleep can lead to
various chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, heart disease and stroke (Chattu
et al. 2018). There is also a higher chance of injury due to improper sleep among adults, teens
and children. A survey found that very few people are satisfied with the amount of sleep that
they get in a day in various parts of the world. Less than one-third population of Japan is
satisfied with the sleep that they get while two–third of the Indian population is satisfied with
their world (Elfien, 2023). However, in most regions of the world, only half of the population is
satisfied with the sleep that they are getting.
 Figure 2: Share of adults worldwide satisfied with their sleep in 2020, by country
(Source: Elfien, 2023)
Moving on, the next integral lifestyle choice that has a significant impact on our health is the diet
that we have on a daily basis. The dietary choices of the majority of the population are quite poor
which involves consuming food with low fibre, high fat, salt/sugar and not having healthy foods
(Man et al. 2020). These dietary choices are further causing the deficiency of various minerals
and vitamins in the body while leading to various adverse health conditions. Poor diet increases
the risk of obesity, various cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancers while being
responsible for millions of deaths every year (Wilson et al. 2019). People have taken up the habit
of eating easy-to-cook meals and selecting high-calorie-processed food that is cheap while
lacking the necessary nutrients for the body. These poor eating choices are also responsible for
reduced immunity levels and poor energy levels among adults.
4. CONCLUSION
Poor diet, addiction and sleep deprivation are some of the common elements of the modern
lifestyle that are having a significant impact on the health of people in society. These lifestyle
choices of the modern world are making people vulnerable to various diseases and chronic health
conditions. Millions of deaths across the globe are taking place due to the health conditions that
have been developed as a result of these poor lifestyle choices. Health conditions like obesity,
diabetes, cardiovascular disease and various types of cancer are some of the common problems
that are the result of the modern lifestyle. There is a rising number of people who are facing
these adverse health conditions and much of these can be attributed to poor lifestyle choices.
Hence, it is only important for people to make the right choice and improve their modern
lifestyle for better health outcomes.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS
The adverse impact on health due to modern lifestyle can easily be reduced by taking the right
steps and making the right choices. Hence, some of the recommended measures to improve the
health outcomes due to modern lifestyle are-
1. Exercise regularly- People must engage themselves with physical work for at least 20-30
mins on a daily basis. They can also engage in yoga or go to the gym in order to keep
themselves fit.
2. Have a balanced diet- Diet is at the centre of adverse health conditions and something
that should be improved by having a diet that is high in fibre, low in fat and properly
cooked.
3. Proper sleep- It is important that people get at least seven hours of sleep to help the body
relieve itself from all the physical and mental pains of the day.
6. REFERENCES
Balwan, W. K., & Kour, S. (2021). Lifestyle Diseases: The Link between Modern Lifestyle and
threat to public health. Saudi J Med Pharm Sci, 7(4), 179-84.
Chattu, V. K., Manzar, M. D., Kumary, S., Burman, D., Spence, D. W., & Pandi-Perumal, S. R.
(2018, December). The global problem of insufficient sleep and its serious public health
implications. In Healthcare (Vol. 7, No. 1, p. 1). MDPI.
Elflein, J., 2023. Number of deaths attributable to tobacco worldwide in 2019, by region and sex.
Retrieved from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1324766/number-death-from-tobacco-use-by-
region-and-sex/
Elflein, J., 2023. Share of adults worldwide satisfied with their sleep in 2020, by country.
Retrieved from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1233775/adults-worldwide-satisfied-sleep-
country/
Macia, L., Galy, O., & Nanan, R. K. H. (2021). Modern Lifestyle and Health: How Changes in
the Environment Impacts Immune Function and Physiology. Frontiers in Immunology, 4516.
Man, A. W., Li, H., & Xia, N. (2020). Impact of lifestyles (diet and exercise) on vascular health:
oxidative stress and endothelial function. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2020.
 Tobaldini, E., Fiorelli, E. M., Solbiati, M., Costantino, G., Nobili, L., & Montano, N. (2019).
Short sleep duration and cardiometabolic risk: from pathophysiology to clinical evidence. Nature
Reviews Cardiology, 16(4), 213-224.
WHO, 2022. Alcohol. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol
WHO, 2022. Tobacco. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-
sheets/detail/tobacco
Wilson, N., Cleghorn, C. L., Cobiac, L. J., Mizdrak, A., & Nghiem, N. (2019). Achieving
healthy and sustainable diets: a review of the results of recent mathematical optimization
studies. Advances in Nutrition, 10(Supplement_4), S389-S403.

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