Diet, exercise, and disease

• A non-communicable disease is a disease that cannot be passed from one person to another. They include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes
• There are many risk factors which increases your chance of getting a disease, for example:

  • Genes inherited from parents
  • Age
  • Lifestyle factors: smoking, alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, unbalanced diet
  • Exposure to carcinogens (substances which cause cancer) in the environment: ionising radiation, UV light from the sun, pollution, second-hand tobacco smoke
• Every disease has an impact on the individual affected and their family, there is often a financial cost to the disease if the person cannot work - they cost huge sums of money in the expense of treating ill people and the loss of money earned through taxes
• If you eat more food than you need, the excess is stored as fat. Fat cushions your organs and acts as an energy store.
• Overeating can lead to being overweight or obese
• Obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes (high blood sugar levels), high blood pressure and heart disease
• Regular exercise has been shown to reduce the risk of developing many non-communicable diseases
• Exercise: reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular (heart) disease, reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, increases your metabolic rate, lowering the chance of being overweight, which lowers the chance of developing arthritis, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and lowers blood cholesterol levels, lowering the chance of developing cardiovascular disease