About This Episode

Top Ten Things That Can Kill You and What You Can Do About It

Episode 133

All of 10 at the deadliest conditions that affect Americans can be influenced by lifestyle choices. Every single one. Stay tuned to learn more about the 10 things, most likely to kill you. And what you can do about it.

Are you one of those people who are proactive and health conscious. Or does it take a wake-up call for you to get serious about taking care of this one bag of flesh and bones that you’re going to live out all of your days in.

the number one disease that claims the most American lives is heart disease with a grand total of over 700,000 deaths per year, a whopping 20% of all deaths are attributable to the old ticker. 

 if you did not answer heart disease for the number one cause of death. You probably answered with the number two cause. Cancer. Cancer retained its number two spot on the list, but there is some bad news. Unfortunately cancer deaths are increasing. And cancer is affecting younger people at an increasing rate.  Here’s what the research suggests lifestyle especially increasing alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, sugar, sweetened beverages, sedentary, lifestyle, and eating ultra processed foods. And other than alcohol. All of this starts in childhood.  Cancer is a dreadful disease that causes 17% of all deaths in this country claiming over 600,000 lives.  And there’ve been so many great advances in the treatment of cancer, as well as early detection. 

And yet. It remains in the number two spot.  

Next on the list is stroke, there are two types of stroke, hemorrhagic and embolic, and let’s camp here for just a minute and go back to mini medical school to learn a little more because the death rates from stroke are decreasing due to educational efforts to recognize symptoms early. 

And the development of effective treatments. In medicine, we say time is brain because every minute that the brain is without blood flow and oxygen results in more damage.

 If you only remember one thing from the podcast today, remember. Be fast. B stands for balance. 

E stands for eye F stands for face. A stands for arm S stands for speech and T stands for Thunderclap. You heard that right? Thunderclap. Well, let me break it all down for emphasis. Remember strokes happen pretty quickly and the damage is done pretty quickly too. So be on your toes, be fast, B balanced. 

This is when someone suddenly loses their sense of balance. E. Is for eyes sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes F is for face. You can see the side of the face drooping. A is for arm and the arm may be weak or even hanging down, but it can also affect the leg. I guess be flast was just too hard to say.  S is for slurred speech or confusion and back to T for Thunderclap. 

This is a sudden severe headache that people describe as the worst headache of my life. Fortunately hospitals participate in stroke accreditation programs that give them access to experts, buy telemedicine, even in remote areas. So if someone you love is experiencing symptoms of stroke, call 9 1 1 and let the ambulance take them to the nearest hospital because. Time is brain. 

Some things kill you fast and others are slow. Coming in at number five is chronic lower respiratory disease.

This includes COPD, asthma, emphysema, and pulmonary hypertension. Chronic respiratory disease takes the life of a hundred and forty thousand people a year. Mostly over the age of 65. Five times more adults die of asthma than kids. But of course, it’s especially tragic in children.

Access to adequate treatment is important. And listen, some of these medications are really expensive.

next up is Alzheimer’s.

 If it seems like more and more people are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it’s true. Like cancer, the rates are increasing. Currently, 120, 000 adults die from brain failure every year. Most people die within 8 years of diagnosis, but some people live up to 20.

Over the last 20 years, deaths from Alzheimer’s have increased by 55%.  You heard that correctly. In this country, there are 6. 5 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Although there is no cure, lots of research is being done and there are new treatments. Contributing genetic factors have been identified, as well as early diagnostic tests. But here’s the good news. Just because you have a gene for Alzheimer’s does not mean you can’t modify your risk with Lifestyle changes.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death, claiming 100, 000 lives a year in the United States. And it’s not just us. In 2021, there were 6. 7 million deaths worldwide attributed to diabetes.

That totals 12 percent of all deaths in the world. And it’s probably underestimated because it’s the underlying disease that causes the other diseases that kill you. In fact, on this top ten list, at least four of them can be pretty closely linked to diabetes and maybe more. Some people even call dementia type 3 diabetes.

Finishing at number 8 on the list is kidney disease, which is directly impacted by both diabetes as well as hypertension. Total lives lost is about 58, 000. 

Barely trailing is number 9, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis,  Mostly caused by an increase in alcohol consumption, accounting for a loss of nearly 55, 000 lives per year. Not to mention the toll on relationships, jobs, life fulfillment, and productivity.  

And number 10, which used to be number four, is COVID 19. In 2021, it was number three, then it moved to number four, then it fell to number ten. The mortality of COVID has plummeted due to immunity, but don’t discount the fact that it still holds the number ten spot.

 Sometimes disease just sneaks up on us, and there’s not much we can do. But let’s talk about the things we have the power to change by walking through the six pillars of lifestyle medicine and their impact on the leading causes of death. Heart disease, cancer, accidents, stroke, chronic respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, and COVID. 

Getting healthy and staying healthy is hard. But it’s so worth the effort because healthy looks great on you.

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