Good day everyone! I am Dr. Honghong Zhu from Saint Louis University in the United States. First I would thank the Catholic Internet Television Network for inviting me to give talk here. The title of my talk today is Tips for a healthy life. I hope everyone can benefit from this talk.
2/ Here is the outline of my talk. I will give a little background of health status worldwide and in the USA, what we can do for a healthy life, and take-home message.
3/ Here is a joke I hope you enjoy. I’ve been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.
4/ everyone has the right to be healthy. The Constitution of the World Health Organization states that: the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, and political belief, economic or social condition.
5/ What is the worldwide health situation? More than half of all deaths worldwide each year about 35 million out of 58 million are caused by chronic disease such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. 6/ Research has found that changes in diet, physical activity, and tobacco use in both rich and poor countries have dramatically increased the risks of chronic diseases.
7/ What is the health status in the USA? A major problem is that two-thirds of the population is either overweight or obese. Diabetes and heart disease are increasing. Cancer incidence is still high, ranking top in the world. Life expectancy among American young generations is expected to decrease compared with old generations.
8/ What are the leading causes of death? Here are the data from 2007. About 616,000 died of heart disease, 563,000 died of cancer, and 136,000 died of stroke. Chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, Alzheimer s disease, and diabetes ranked 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, respectively.
9/ What can we do for a healthy life?
10/ No 1. Do not smoke. Tobacco use kills about five million people every year. Quit smoking if you are a smoker now. The benefits from quitting smoking are much more than you expect.
11/ No. 2 reduce or do not use alcohol. Worldwide alcohol causes 2. 5 million deaths every year. Alcohol causes about 20-30% of esophageal cancer, liver cancer, and cirrhosis of the liver, homicide, epilepsy, and motor vehicle accidents. The burden of disease attributable to alcohol use is not equally distributed among the countries, as is shown on the next slide.
12/ 10-14% of deaths are due to alcohol use among European countries shown in red , 5-10% among China, Argentina and areas shown in orange, 2-5%among the US, Canada and others shown in yellow. The green areas have the lowest burden due to alcohol use.
13/ No. 3 Control air pollution: Air pollution causes approximately2 million premature deaths worldwide per year. By reducing air pollution levels, the global burden of disease from respiratory infection, heart disease, and lung cancer can be reduced. As an example, try not to be exposed to car exhaust every day.
14/ Every year, indoor air pollution is responsible for the death of 1. 6 million people - that's one death every 20 seconds, due to pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease and lung cancer. More than half of the world’s population relies on dung, wood, crop waste or coal to meet their most basic energy needs. Cooking and heating with such solid fuels on open fires or stoves without chimneys leads to indoor air pollution. This indoor smoke contains a range of health-damaging pollutants including small soot or dust particles that are able to penetrate deep into the lungs. Exposure is particularly high among women and children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth. Best to keep family members in a low polluted environment, one with no second hand tobacco smoke.
15/ Here is sample guideline by which you may use as a reference. If there is any asthma, COPD or other chronic respiratory disease patient at home, it would be a good idea to watch these indices for air pollution every day. Patients with asthma or COPD should stay at home if the indices for air pollution are much higher than normal.
16/ No 4 Eat balanced healthy food. Eating healthy foodies not enough. We should eat balanced healthy food. Research shows to eat healthy food can prevent many chronic diseases such as colorectal cancer. Try to eat more fresh vegetables and fruit and less animal food. Try to eat all kinds of healthy food.
17/ No 5 do not eat or eat less unhealthy food. Eat less or no fried, smoked, pickled, and processed food. Educate yourself about food ingredients For example, look at food ingredients when you buy food. If there are some artificial flavors or colors in it, you may consider not buying these kinds of food for your children. Some children may get hyperactive after intake of artificial flavors and colors.
18/ No 6 try best to do physical activity every day. Do not sit for too long. Do not watch TV or use your computer for too long Exercise for about 30 minutes per day Get a good night s rest For example, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park a little farther away from your office. Try to provide yourself more chances to walk every day.
19/ No. 7 Reduce daily exposure to chemicals: Try not to take drugs/supplements every day unless necessary Try not to be exposed to pesticides/other chemicals Protect yourself and family members from occupational hazards.
20/ No. 8 Tyro improve yourself People who have a higher education live longer than those who have lower education you can learn something from anyone be humble There is no end of learning in our life.
21/ No. 9 Try to help others. Almost every study of longevity indicates one secret that makes people healthier and happier is helping others specifically, it’s the dignity, the joy, the passion and the purpose of helping others that have these beneficial effects, whether you’re helping another person quit smoking, or mentoring child at school.
22/ Here are the take-home messages for you. These are what you should not do. Never smoke and never be exposed to secondhand smoke, especially women and children. Never get drunk. It takes a long time to recover if you get drunk. For people with some certain situations such as hepatitis, do not drink any alcohol because alcohol interacting with the hepatitis virus or chemicals can cause problems such as liver cancer and cirrhosis. Eat less or no unhealthy food. Don t sit for too long and never abuse drugs.
23/ Here are the take-home messages of what we should do for our health. Try to be happy every day. Try to get a medium level exercise every day such as 30 minutes jogging. Eat balanced healthy food: eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and supper like a pauper. What does this mean? Eat all kinds of healthy food and finish to 2/3 of your daily animal food in the morning. Eat about 1/3-1/2 animal food at lunch and no or less animal food at night. Sometimes you can starve yourself a little bit at night. For senior people, 70-80% fullness should be enough at night. Kids need full meals because they need nutrition to grow. Another important thing you can do is to maintain and control your weight.
24/ Here are the habits of the world’s healthiest people. First is move naturally such as walk and garden. Know your purpose in life. Downshift, relax yourself. Eat a plant-based diet. As I said before eat more fresh vegetables and fruit and less animal food. Drink a little red wine (<50mL per time). Don t get drunk. Belong to a healthy social network. People are healthy if they are surrounded by healthy people. Have a belief system and put your family first. Slide 25 Here is a joke in the end of my talk today. How to Have a Long, Healthy Life. A woman walked up to a wrinkled, little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. She said: “I could to help noticing how happy you look. What s you’re secret for a long happy life? “He said: "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day. I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise. ““That is amazing," said the woman, "how old are you? “Twenty-six.
Thank you. Have a good day! Please cherish your life.
