Depression
Clinical
depression is signaled
by persistent change in a person's feelings and behavior that are often misunderstood or
ignored. Typical changes include sad or empty feelings, slowed behavior, and changes in
eating and sleeping patterns. People with this illness often feel down on themselves and
hopeless about future. Many find it difficult to concentrate on work or studies, feel
guilty or anxious, cry often or become irritable over little things. Others lose interest
in friends, sex and other activities that had given them pleasure in the past. They may
complain about physical aches and pains-backaches, headaches, and stomachs problems-for
which no medical explanation can be found
Like heart disease and alcoholism,
clinical depression often runs in families. More than twice as many women than men suffer
from clinical depression and 25% of women and 10% of men will suffer one or more episodes
of clinical depression in their lifetimes. Though clinical depression strikes people of
all ages, it strikes most often among those aged 24-44.
http://www.medschool.pitt.edu
Obesity
Obesity and overweight have in the last decade become a global problem -
according to the World Health Organization (WHO) back in 2005
approximately 1.6 billion adults over the of age 15+ were overweight, at
least 400 million adults were obese and at least 20 million children
under the age of 5 years were overweight.
Experts believe if the current trends continue by 2015 approximately
2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be
obese. The scale of the obesity problem has a number of serious
consequences for individuals and government health systems.
Overweight
and obesity are defined by the WHO as abnormal or excessive
fat accumulation that presents a risk to an individuals health. The WHO
defines an adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 as overweight
- an adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese - a BMI
below 18.5 is considered underweight, and between 18.5 to 24.9 a healthy
weight .
http://health.usnews.com
Diabetes Type 1
Diabetes type 1 is much rarer, accounting for only 5 to 10 percent of all
diagnosed cases of diabetes. With type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune
system destroys special cells in the pancreas that manufacture insulin.
These cells, called beta cells, are the only places in the body where
insulin is produced. Without them, the body lacks the insulin it needs
to move glucose out of circulation and control high blood sugar.
Type 1 diabetes often sets in during childhood, with about half of all
cases developing before age 20. Most other cases begin in people up to
age 30. It’s very unusual to see a case of type 1 diabetes crop up in
anyone over age 40. Because it’s widely seen as a disease of the young (although you
continue to have it your entire life), type 1 is sometimes called
juvenile-onset diabetes. This term, too, has fallen out of favor, both
because adults can get type 1 diabetes and because rates of type 2
diabetes in children are exploding.
http://www.rd.com
Diabetes Type 2
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. If you have type 2 diabetes your body does not use insulin properly. This is called insulin resistance. At first, your pancreas makes extra insulin to make up for it. But, over time it isn't able to keep up and can't make enough insulin to keep your blood glucose at normal levels.
http://www.diabetes.org
Your risk of developing type 2 diabetes
increases as you get older. Diabetes most often affects people over age
40, and people over 65 are at even higher risk. It is recommended that
people aged 45 and older be tested for diabetes every three years. http://www.sparkpeople.com
Hypertension
High blood pressure is a common condition in which the force of the
blood against your artery walls is high enough that it may eventually
cause health problems, such as heart disease.
Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps and
the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The more blood
your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood
pressure.
You can have high blood pressure (hypertension) for years without any
symptoms. Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases your risk of
serious health problems, including heart attack and stroke.
The risk of high blood pressure increases as you age. Through early
middle age, high blood pressure is more common in men. Women are more
likely to develop high blood pressure after menopause.
Heart Attack
Heart
attack is the death of a segment of heart muscle caused by the loss of
blood supply. The blood supply is usually lost because a coronary
artery, one that supplies blood to the heart muscle, has a blood clot, a
blockage (coronary thrombosis). If some of the heart muscle dies, the
patient experiences chest pain and electrical instability of the heart
muscle tissue.
The
largest risk factor of heart attack is age. When a man is over 45
years, and a woman is over 55 years of age, their risk of having a heart
attack starts to rise significantly.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the lungs. Your lungs are
two spongy organs in your chest that take in oxygen when you inhale and
release carbon dioxide when you exhale.
Lung cancer claims more lives each year than do colon, prostate, ovarian and breast cancers combined.
People who smoke have the greatest risk of lung cancer. The risk of lung
cancer increases with the length of time and number of cigarettes
you've smoked. If you quit smoking, even after smoking for many years,
you can significantly reduce your chances of developing lung cancer.
http://www.mayoclinic.com
Lung cancer is more common in older people. About 80% of lung cancers (8
in 10) are diagnosed in people over 60. Lung cancer rarely affects
people under 40.
http://www.macmillan.org.uk
