Nutritional stress is one of the basic causes of a variety of diseases. Food processing industries across the world convert whole grains, vegetables, meat, and dairy products into convenient forms for the consumption of the end users. For instance, most of the processed foods individuals consume nowadays are loaded with sugar and other chemicals. Sugar does not contain any essential nutrients and only provides the body excess calories and energy. Studies have repeatedly proven the harmful effects of sugar to the human body as it affects the normal metabolism (Stanhope, Schwarz & Havel, 2013). Processed foods cause obesity which in turn leads to various diseases. Processed foods are responsible for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and digestive problems. Also, inadequate nutrition intake causes many diseases.
Secondly, persistent emotional stress arising out of a divorce, loss of a dear one, or a tight workplace schedule robs human bodies of vital energy; this in turn affects the body’s immune system by disrupting the hormonal system. As a result, a person is likely to fall it. High blood pressure, sleep disturbances, diabetes and weight gain commonly result from emotional stress. Depression, anxiety, headaches and gastro intestinal diseases are also attributed to emotional stress.
Thirdly, microbes like bacteria, fungi and viruses cause a lot of infectious diseases. For instance, throat infections, influenza, malaria, chicken pox, measles and polio are some of the diseases caused by microbes. Human beings are continuously exposed to a variety of microbes that are present in the air, food and drinking water. The microbes on entering the human body slowly eat away the resources available in the cells. Even though most of the microbes have a limited potential to cause diseases to the human body, they take advantage and cause serious illness when an individual’s immune system is affected by certain other conditions like low nutrient intake.
Demographic factors like economic status, sex and marital status are more likely to influence a person’s perception about his or her health risk. For instance, in most of the countries around the world the poor, single parents and the women tend to feel less healthy when compared to others in the society (Nauert, 2015). It is obvious that a person’s economic status significantly influences his life style and eating habits. The rich lead a healthy life style as they can afford to have frequent medical checkups while on the other hand the poor leading a hand to mouth existence are least likely to give importance to healthy eating habits and disease control measures. Also, women are exposed to more health challenges because of various gynecological reasons. Interestingly, in many countries women have diverse perceptions about health risks as their habits differ from men and they live longer than men (Nauert, 2015).
Secondly, a person’s educational level is bound to influence the way he perceives health risks. Individuals with more years of schooling enjoy better health as they have many healthy habits compared to the less educated. Education exposes people to good knowledge about the body and its functioning. It warns them about various infectious and life-style diseases and motivates them to give importance to eating healthy foods and adopting a healthy life style. Obviously, the educated are more likely to take preventive care when compared with the uneducated.
Thirdly, the culture of individuals influences their perception about health risks. A person’s cultural beliefs determine his eating habits and life style. This also influences the way they interpret various diseases and body conditions. For instance, many tribal communities living across the globe attribute the outbreak of certain infectious diseases to the wrath of gods which in turn prevents them from taking any medical help. Similarly, the diagnosis and treatment of diseases vary from culture to culture.
References
Nauert, R. (2015). Factors That Influence Health Perceptions Vary by Country. Psych Central. Retrieved on July 16, 2016, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/09/14/factors-that-influence-health-perceptions-vary-by-country/92220.html
Stanhope, K.L, Schwarz, J.M & Havel, P.J.(2013). Adverse metabolic effects of dietary fructose: results from the recent epidemiological, clinical, and mechanistic studies. Journal of Current Opinion in Lipidology. Jun;24(3):198-206.
