20s is the New 40s as Chronic Diseases Strike at an Younger Age

 The 20s is the new 40s

Are you wondering if it’s a typo in our title? Nope! When we say the 20s are the new 40s we do mean it. While it is true that today’s 40-year-olds look and behave like as if they are in their early 20s, it is also equally true that the 20-year-olds are getting diseases that previously were limited to 40+-year-old people.

If you notice the common pattern in young adults, you can notice that most of them are:

Obese at 20; balding at 25; struggling with back-pain at 27; diabetic at 30; suffering from a first heart attack at 35; undergoing menopause at 37; and cancer at any age.

Are you wondering what are the causes or reasons for these adverse effects on today’s youths? There are quite a lot of reasons, including pollution, pesticides, emotional stress, unhealthy food habits, lifestyle changes, etc.

Here are some of the significant causes that cause 20+ year people to suffer from chronic conditions that were only faced by 40+ aged individuals before.

Indigestion

The topmost reason is chronic constipation and acidity. Many youngsters, these days, suffer from chronic acidity and constipation as a result of indigestion. According to Ayurveda, an effective functioning digestive process is the key to health and vitality. When digestion process is not complete, toxins build up in the system. This issue can be commonly witnessed in modern youths. Quoting a famous saying “You are what you eat.” However, to be even more precise, “You are what you digest and absorb.” The modern diet and lifestyle have led to an epidemic of chronic constipation and acidity. If you constantly face any of the symptoms like burping, heaviness or bloated feeling, bad breath, burning sensation in the chest, etc., it means that you are suffering from indigestion. This indigestion, in turn, will weaken the process of methylation – a crucial process of flushing out toxins from one’s body. If your digestion process is normal and healthy, you can avoid more than half of the chronic disorders that might occur to you in your 20s and 30s.

Read more on “Recognize Early Signs of Indigestion to Ward Off Many Chronic Diseases.”

Consumption of unhealthy and processed foods

While consumption of processed foods mainly refined sugar and simple carbohydrates causes indigestion, it also contributes to other issues like acidity, diabetes, obesity, etc. When a food is processed, many essential nutrients and fibers are lost. Blood sugar levels spike rapidly by consumption of these foods causing a condition called hyperinsulinemia or high insulin levels. Hyperinsulinemia is responsible for most of the chronic conditions like diabetes, fatty liver, premature aging, Alzheimer’s, tumors and even cancer.  Processed food items also deprive the body of essential vitamins and minerals vital for health.

Read more on High Insulin is Responsible for Many Chronic Conditions

Health and the Body’s pH

The processed food not only causes indigestion and high insulin levels but also distorts the body’s pH level. The pH scale ranges from 0-14. Acidic food has a pH below 7 and alkaline above 7. Water is 7.0 with neutral pH. The human body needs to maintain a healthy pH in a narrow range, between 7.35 and 7.45, to function properly. This slightly alkaline pH provides an ideal working environment for the body’s fluids and tissues and boosts the immune system. The prime function of the kidney is to balance the pH of the body. During digestion, the kidneys send out electrolytes such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium to balance the acid. If we consume too much of acidic food items, our body would use electrolytes from other organs and bones to neutralize the acids. This the reason acidic diet causes the depletion of calcium from the bones. The consumption of food items such as whole, raw, organic fruits and vegetables helps to maintain healthy pH of the body and help in reducing various diseases and disorders, including hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, vitamin D deficiency, and low bone density.

Emotional factors like stress and anxiety

Chronic stress is the major killer of our time. Even the young are not spared from the harmful effect of stress. The US National Academy of Science reports that 70-80 percent of all doctor visits are for stress or stress-induced illness. Unlike the yore when the stress episodes were temporary in nature like encountering a predator, the modern day stressors are mostly psychological, persistent and chronic in nature. The stress hormones released by the body at the time of stress are various corticosteroids, including adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol, and other glucocorticoids. Over the short term, these help the body cope. But long-term exposure to these stress hormones damages major systems of the body. Stress reduces the immunity, causes weight gain, increases the risk of auto-immune diseases, increases susceptibility to high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and heart attack. It causes reproductive problems and decreases sex drive in men and women as sex hormones are inhibited. Stress-induced damage to muscle tissue and tense muscles lead to headaches, backaches, and other muscular pains. Stomach and intestinal troubles including ulcers, colitis, IBS are also linked to stress.

Social Media and Stress

While watching what we eat is the main step towards holistic living, another primary step is to control our emotions and keep a check on our stress level. With heavy influence from social media, these days we are surrounded by norms and obligations, which instead of easing our lives complicate it even further. A good example for that would be the Blue Whale Challenge, the increasing number of teenage suicides are indeed alarming. Apart from these, our ability to build meaningful relationships, or capability to indulge in intense conversations, etc. have reduced significantly. One easy way is to reduce usage of gadgets, especially before sleep and immediately after waking up. Just as toxins, toxic thoughts can bring untold misery. To overcome that, one can indulge in meditation, yoga, and, in general, have an active lifestyle.

Read more on Rewire your body and mind through meditation and Overcome Worry, Anxiety, and Stress with these 8 simple steps 

For the past many decades, the health of the next generation has improved greatly compared to the earlier ones. We might have added years to our life expectancy, but the overall quality of life is getting deteriorated in the current generation. It may be the first time that the quality of life and health suffer brutally like this. However, it’s better late than never. Let’s all pledge to have a healthy lifestyle from today.