The general population in Kashmir is suffering from a lot of lifestyle diseases unheard of some three decades back. Three decades back Kashmir was predominantly an agrarian economy and by agrarian economy we strictly infer non-cash crops. It was hard labour from dawn to dusk. The high carbohydrate diet would get digested by the amount of hard work put in by our ancestors. Now the paddy fields are gone – we either built our bungalows there or converted it into apple orchards. Whatever paddy land is available is outsourced to the labourers of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, we are left to deal with terms like hypertension, diabetes, sugar level, calorie intake and calorie burning. All these terms had no relevance some thirty years ago. We ate a lot of calories unknowingly and we consumed them unknowingly. People were slim and no other exercise was required apart from maintaining the daily chores of the household.
Times have changed now. The lifestyle diseases like hypertension have crippled the healthy lifestyle of Kashmiris. According to medical experts every third or fourth adult here has hypertension but unfortunately, almost half of them are unaware that they have high blood pressure. This biggest silent killer doesn’t show any symptoms during the course of illness except some vague signs attributed to other diseases. The medical experts attribute this phenomenon to the high intake of common salt – remember from the countryside it is still fashionable to drink three to four cups of salt tea in the morning before leaving for work. This coupled with the newly acquired sedentary lifestyle is crippling a healthy lifestyle. Strangely, of late, hypertension is becoming common with our youth without them knowing it. People in general and youth in particular are unable to keep their hypertension in check.
This web of lifestyle diseases is crippling life here. People in their productive years find themselves waiting in the waiting room of private or government medical clinics and have no energy or resoluteness to focus on their career path. Besides, smoking is so common nowadays in Kashmir. Every other person on the street smokes. Even though ubiquitous gymnasiums have helped a bit in urban geography, people usually do not go regularly after buying a subscription.
Health of youth is paramount to the progress of a nation. Unless we are healthy we cannot contribute productively towards the economic progress of our country.
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