Lifestyle Related Diseases and General Health of City Dwellers:A Study on Rourkela City

Abstract

Lifestyle refers to the quantity and quality of time spent in one’s activities of daily life. Lifestyle diseases arise due to inappropriate relationship of people with the environment and wrong choices like sedentary habits, poor diet, and lack of physical exercise, alcohol abuse and smoking. The primary reason triggering lifestyle diseases among people are the lifestyle of the people. So, it is necessary to control this risk factor in order to improve health condition. The diseases are widespread across the globe and both the developing as well the developed countries are facing the burden of lifestyle diseases. Millions of people in the developing countries are adopting a westernized lifestyle, as a result of which the health status of the people is in tremendous risk. The objective of the study is to find out the prevalence of common lifestyle diseases among the city dwellers and to examine the risk factors responsible for the common lifestyle disease. A semi structured questionnaire comprising of people’s daily schedule, food habit, physical activity, health threatening and promoting behavior etc. was developed by the researcher. Primary data collected from 100 respondents of Rourkela city in which 61% male respondents and 39% female respondents participated following an initial rapport. Upon willingness they were asked some questions related to lifestyle issues. The findings of the study showed an overall prevalence rate for the common lifestyle diseases like hypertension (30%), diabetes (18%), asthma (14%), and heart disease (4%). However, 34% of the participants reported for absence of any lifestyle diseases. It was found out that respondents were taking high fatty diet, high salt intake, smoking, consuming alcohol, lack of physical activity. One of the significant finding was on the perceived body image and actual BMI (Body Mass Index). Pearson correlation for these two variables was 0.20, suggesting a lack of self-evaluation among the participants with respect to their body. As an increased BMI is an important indicator for many of the lifestyle diseases, serious thought should be given to this growing burden of lifestyle diseases in the study population. In order to fight lifestyle diseases, improper eating habits should be changed followed by balanced diet and proper physical exercise.