Our show today is a 2 part series with Dr. Stephan Hanna, MD. Dr. Hanna is a family physician who has been practicing in West Virginia for over 30 years. Our discussion is on the effects of our lifestyle choices and behaviors on our overall health.
Dr. Huber explains the way we live today is not the way our forefathers lived. The American lifestyle has changed significantly over the past 100 years. At the turn of the 20th century, 70% of the American population lived in the country and was physically active in food production. The food they ate was not processed or refined. Today, 95% pf our population lives in cities and is accustomed to work saving devices, such as power lawn mowers, elevators, golf carts and weed eaters.
In the years from the birth of Christ to 1900, life expectancy at birth advanced only 20 years (from 25 to 47). In 1980, life expectancy nearly doubled. In 1900 life expectancy was 47.3 years old; 1980 life expectancy was 73.7 years old and in 2014 life expectancy was 78.8 years old. An article from K.D. Kochanek, "National Vital Statistics Reports; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention", explains the increase in life expectancy was due largely to the development of vaccines and antibiotics to fight infections, and to public health measures such as water purification and sewage treatments to improve living conditions. Kochanek further explains as life expectancy increased dramatically, premature deaths from infectious diseases decreased. As a result, the leading cause of death shifted to chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Chronic diseases are responsible for 7 out of 10 deaths in the United States.
Dr. Huber describes degenerative diseases are primarily diseases of lifestyle. He further explains that degenerative diseases often begin undetected early in life and progressively cause deterioration in health as we grow older. He continues to note that often we feel that we are in a healthy state because we have no outward symptoms of disease. Sometimes the first symptom of a disease is also the last, since 40 to 50% of all heart attack victims die before they reach the hospital after their first heart attack.
Dr. Hanna discuss the 4 modifiable determinants, behaviors that you and I can change, and that are responsible for most of the illness, suffering and early death related to chronic diseases.