Illness Risks Due to Different Environmental Factors
Health, as defined by the World Health Organization, is ‘a condition of full mental and physical well-being and not just the absence of sickness and disease’. A number of definitions have been applied over the years for different medical purposes. They cover everything from general health to cardiovascular health to infectious diseases. Some other less common definitions include wellness, emotional health, psychological health, resilience, physical health and body mass index (BMI).
Health is a state of being fit and healthy. It is a mixture of physical, mental, and emotional factors. In most cases, health is influenced by genes, but it can also be affected by the surrounding and social environment. People living in an unhealthy environment or diseases can affect the human health. It has become an important part of all human health sciences, because understanding how diseases affect us is essential for preventing, diagnosing and treating them.
The National Institute on Aging divides the total number of deaths among the populations of the United States, Europe and Japan into three categories: normal, morbidity and cause-specific mortality. Healthy people are those who live longer and are less likely to die from any cause. These include people with weight management, healthy foods and physical activity. They have a lower incidence of chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes and they rarely die from heart attacks and strokes. It is believed that these people live longer than the norm because their life expectancy is usually above average. One way to measure healthy people is the prevalence of social security numbers in the population; healthier people tend to have more social security numbers in comparison to unhealthy people.
Good nutrition is a key element of good health. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy products and fish can improve both the nutritional quality and quantity of the main food groups – carbohydrates, protein, fiber, fat and fruits. A diet high in animal protein, salt and refined sugar is associated with an increased risk of chronic illness and premature death, while a diet including all four food groups can reduce overall health threat.
Stress, too, has become a major barrier to healthful diet. In developed countries, the level of stress attributable to work, family and other external factors, such as pollution, may lead to unhealthy living conditions and increased risk of many diseases. The incidence of many diseases in these countries, including coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers, is higher than in the developed countries. This could be attributed to a greater susceptibility to pathogenic infections in the developing countries, as well as the lack of physical exercise and exposure to environmental toxins and stress.
Stress has been linked to the onset of several serious illnesses, including coronary artery disease, heart attacks, stroke, ulcers, kidney disease, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome and certain forms of cancer. The main article focuses on occupational safety and the hazards of working under conditions that are risky. Occupational safety is a crucial aspect of public health and medical science, since almost all illnesses could be prevented if the necessary precautions and protective equipment are employed. Thus, occupational safety should be the first point of contact for all employees to prevent illness and injury.