Detrimental Health Habits that have been Normalized

 Humans, specially young adults have normalized various habits and made them a part of our daily routine which can have outrageous consequences to our long-term mental and physical health. The more concerning thing is how these habits are seen as normal rather than direct threats. Lets take an over view of these.

- High Sugar Intake

Apart from the obvious consequences like weight gain and risk of diabetes, there are so many other factors/risk that are attributed to high sugar intake. A sugar rich diet has been linked to acne, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and skin ageing.

These might look like things you hear about everyday, however these aren’t all the risks. An increased sugar intake also leads to cell mutations and ageing, which can then in turn, turn into various types of cancers. In fact, each daily 20-ounce (591-ml) serving of sugar-sweetened soda equated to 4.6 additional years of aging, independent of other variables.

- Smoking/Tobacco/Cigarettes

We are all well aware of the hell-ish consequences of smoking. Be it the countless types of cancer, asthma, heart disease, low immunity or others, everyone is aware of this. Then why does smoking thrive as one of the most common habits in our society? The easy answer is that it is an insanely addictive habit.

The other answer is accessibility. No other substance such as harmful for consumption as cigarettes or tobacco is so easily available in the market. It is also seen as a gateway substance to most drugs. Then why does it thrive in our society? Big corporations like Philip Morris have lobbying power over governments, specially those of developing nations. That can be seen by the fact that a 20-pack in USA costs an upward of $15 but in Pakistan the same pack costs barely $0.5 .This insane accessibility has millions of teenagers, workers and other folk trapped in the viscous cycle of smoking.

- Vaping/E Ciggs

Carry forward from our last habit, vaping is another health damaging epidemic that has taken our society by storm. If you stroll down any street of Islamabad, you are likely to see at-least one vaping device in the hands of an Islamabadi teen or young adult. Many use this as an excuse to quit smoking, and that it helps them with stress.

However, research shows that vaping can lead to side effects like weight loss, nausea, loss of appetite and asthma. 

Moreover, according to a study by the NHS, vaping has been known to cause hidden damage to our lung-tract, hence explaining why so many vape users have such a short span of stamina.

So in short, this stress reducing habit will most definitely become a reason for dangerously stressful health situations for users in the future.

- Irregular Sleep Cycles

This might seem trivial, but according to various research the disturbance of the circadian rhythm can be attributed to 100s of illnesses. Whether it be a weak immune system or tones of psychological disorders, your bad sleep cycle is usually one of the factors involved.

According to the New York Time, sleep hormones like melatonin and drugs like Xanax are being used by this generation to alter their sleep cycle than any generation before. 

What is the true reason of our messed up sleep schedules? We can attribute it to the new ways of work, our smartphones, or so many other reasons, however one thing we can agree on that it is not healthy at all and people with normal sleep and healthy sleep routines report less stress too.