Mr Indroneil Mukerjee an accomplished Bach Flower therapist and a transformational Life Coach
WHAT ARE THE SILENT KILLER DISEASES AND WHY?
‘Silent killer diseases’ are diseases that produce minimum or no symptoms and are capable of causing death, if not treated. Lifestyle diseases like heart disease, hypertension and diabetes are major silent killer diseases. Heart disease is the number one silent killer disease.
There are 246 million people with diabetes in the world and every year it is estimated that 3.2 million people die due to the diabetes or its related causes. India is considered to be the diabetes capital of the world with 69.9 million cases projected by 2025. The number of cases for diabetes has been doubling in the past 30 years as for heart diseases.
CAUSES OF LIFESTYLE DISEASES
According to WHO, there are 4 key metabolic risk factors that contribute to the increasing the risk of lifestyle diseases:
- raised blood pressure,
- overweight/obesity,
- hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose levels) and
- hyperlipidaemia (high levels of fat in the blood)
In terms of attributable deaths, the leading metabolic risk factor globally is elevated blood pressure (to which 19% of global deaths are attributed), followed by overweight and obesity and raised blood glucose.
While, faulty life-style is considered to be the major reason for the increase in the above metabolic risk factors, which in turn show up as lifestyle diseases, the statement is only partially true.
What about those, particularly in the corporate sector, who led a seemingly healthy lifestyle and yet succumbed to severe heart attacks in their mid-forties?
The four major lifestyle aspects that increase the risk factors when not normal, are:
- Diet
- Exercise
- Sleep and
- Stress
Underlying these aspects is the emotional health of an individual. Emotions and emotional conditions like anger, anxiety, bitterness, depression, disappointment, fear, insecurity, indecision, lack of self-confidence, low self-worth, pessimism, resentment, among others, lead one to adopt unhealthy habits and leading a faulty lifestyle.
Also, these emotions, particularly once suppressed, are stored in the cells of our body leading to the onset of the physical manifestation of the diseases. The body mimics the mind – a fearful insecure mind will cause the body to put on more flab to feel protected; bitterness can cause the body to reject all that is sweet causing hyperglycaemia; rage and anger can cause cortisol levels to rise leading to hypertension.
At the bottom of it all are deep seated limiting blocks and beliefs – the self-talk and unconscious thought patterns – that are responsible for negative emotional responses to situations and experiences.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To stay clear of the ‘silent killer’ lifestyle diseases here are some recommendations:
PREVENTION
- Prevention is always better than cure. One can prevent from being in clutches of such silent killer diseases by carrying out monthly check-ups – irrespective of the age.
- Conditions like pre-diabetes, borderline cholesterol and marginally high BMI should not be ignored.
- Necessary interventions to change one’s diet, exercise regime, sleeping pattern and stress, should be taken, under professional guidance.
- Negative emotions should never be suppressed. Neither should one try to reason them with one’s mind. For the same mind that caused such negative emotions to arise can never heal. Seek the help of a competent Bach Flower therapist.
CURE
Early warning signals, when ignored and neglected, soon, without any symptoms, grow into full-blown lifestyle diseases. Calling for drastic measures to be taken. Medicines are introduced in an attempt to check further conflagration of the diseases, the strength of which incrementally grows, as the metabolic damage goes from bad to worse. One submits to a lifetime’s dependency on such meds.
The emotions that caused the disease to precipitate in the physical body still remains suppressed, again increasingly becoming more intense and uncontrollable.
A two-pronged approach, in such cases, is recommended
- Drastic lifestyle change, especially in terms of diet, needs to be introduced under the supervision of a competent health coach/dietician/nutritionist. This will repair and heal the damaged metabolism.
- Bach Flower therapy – the most safe, simple and yet potent therapy for healing emotions and underlying blocks – must be resorted to, under guidance of a competent therapist. This will heal the root cause of the disease and prevent it from growing and / or recurring.
Do not regard Illness or disease as a curse or a calamity. View them as opportunities to mend your ways; as a clarion call to embark upon a transformational journey, a journey towards mental, emotional and behavioural transformation. Soon you would find yourself out of the ambit of ‘silent killer diseases’ – no more living to die but dying to live.