Everyone begins to worry when they heard about this recently emerged type of disorder. Though it has been only identified less than fifteen years ago, every individual is talking crazy about this health condition. Approximately one in ten people might have this kind of disorder, making it a scary condition that one should be alerted with.
The problem is, no one knows much about it, and even debated by most health experts. You might have heard of this mysterious syndrome that has even a daunting name – Metabolic Syndrome, or sometimes known as the Syndrome X.
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of risk factors that increase the chance of acquiring major diseases such as heart diseases, stroke and diabetes. It was so-called “metabolic” because it involves the biochemical processes involved in our body’s normal functioning. However, these processes are altered causing it to increase chance of getting a disease. Researchers believe that the features of this syndrome are resulted from elevated insulin levels caused by resistance of insulin.
There are five major factors that are clustered under metabolic syndrome. Anyone can have at least one of these factors, but eventually the other factors will become evident as they tend to occur together. One can be diagnosed under this disorder if you have at least three of these risk factors:
- Abdominal obesity or a large waistline. Having excessive fats in the abdominal are has a greater risk of acquiring heart diseases than those excess fats on the other areas of the body.
- Hypertension. If you happen to have a higher than the normal blood pressure, you might eventually develop major diseases in the future if not controlled.
- Higher than normal triglyceride levels in the blood
- Hyperglycemia, or higher than normal fasting sugar. This may indicate an early sign of diabetes.
- Lower good cholesterol (high density lipoproteins). If you have low HDL cholesterol, you may be at risk of getting heart disease in the future.
If you think you are positive with metabolic syndrome, you seek medical help immediately. Your doctor will be advised you to undergo several diagnostic examinations to confirm the disorder. He will then prescribe you certain medications to prevent or control the risk factors.
However, you can take part in controlling the surges of these following factors. Doctors say that modifying your lifestyle is the main treatment for metabolic syndrome. Change your lifestyle by simply adding these from your daily routine: exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, and quit smoking.
However, you can prevent acquiring metabolic syndrome. All you have to do is to live healthy. If you are overweight, try to lose some weight. Incorporate exercise in your daily routine. Eat a wide variety of healthy foods. Monitor your vital statistics every now and then, particularly blood pressure and blood sugar. With this, you are not only free from getting this mysterious disorder, it will make you also feel energized and stay in good physical shape.