Lifestyle diseases

Question 1

What is health?

Answer 1

The state of physical and mental well-being.

Question 2

What are the major causes of ill health?

Answer 2

Diseases both communicable + non-communicable.

Question 3

What are communicable diseases?

Answer 3

Diseases that can spread person to person or between animals and people - e.g. malaria, measles.
Can be caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi.

Question 4

What are non- communicable diseases?

Answer 4

Cannot be spread between people or between animals and people - e.g. coronary heart disease.

Question 5

What types of diseases may interact?

Answer 5

• Defects in immune system means an individual is more likely to suffer from infectious diseases.
• Viruses living in cells may be the trigger for cancer
• Immune reactions initially caused by a pathogen can trigger allergies such as skin rashes and asthma.
• Severe physical ill health can lead to depression and other mental illness.

Question 6

What other factors can affect your physical and mental health?

Answer 6

Poor diet
Stress
Life situations

Question 7

What are risk factors linked to?

Answer 7

Increase rate of disease

Question 8

What can risk factors be?

Answer 8

• Aspects of a person’s lifestyle

- Substances in the person’s body or environment.

Question 9

List lifestyle effects on non-communicable diseases.

Answer 9

• Effects of diet, smoking and exercise on cardiovascular disease.
• Obesity as a risk factor for Type 2 Diabetes
• Effect of alcohol on brain + liver
• Effect of smoking on lung disease + lung cancer
• Effects of smoking and alcohol on unborn babies
• Carcinogens, including ionising radiation, as risk factors in cancer.

Question 10

What lifestyle factors have different effects globally?

Answer 10

Globally, non-communicable diseases are more common in developed countries as people generally earn more and can buy high-fat food.

Question 11

What lifestyle factors have different effects nationally?

Answer 11

Nationally, cardiovascular disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes are more common in poorer areas - people there are more likely to smoke, have a poor diet and not exercise.

Question 12

What lifestyle factors have different effects locally?

Answer 12

Your individual choices affect how common a disease is locally.

Question 13

What are the human costs of non-communicable diseases?

Answer 13

Lower quality of life or shorter lifespan.

Question 14

What are the financial costs of non-communicable diseases?

Answer 14

• Cost of researching and treating diseases is huge
• Expensive for individuals to move or adapt their home because of a disease.
• If a person can’t work anymore or they die, their family’s income will be reduced.
• Reduction of number of people able to work can affect a country’s economy.