Sedentary life due to the pandemic situation, added stress and binge eating are leading to lifestyle diseases in people as well as complicating their existing health issues, experts said on September 29.

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According to Dr. Ashish Agarwal, Head and Senior Consultant, Department of Cardiology, Aakash Healthcare & Super Speciality Hospital, Dwarka, more patients of blood pressure and diabetes are now visiting the hospital when their condition becomes complicated. "People have an inertia of going to the hospital due to the pandemic situation. Patients are not consulting doctors for their regular follow-up and continuing the medicines they were prescribed. They are not consulting doctors who might suggest them to change medicines which is complicating the situation," he said.

The lack of physical activity has complicated the situation, doctors said. "The lifestyle after COVID has definitely added to the heart ailments. Issues like unnecessary weight gain, lack of physical activity, not getting proper sleep because of long working hours, added stress, binge eating cause additional burden to the heart," said Dr. Ashwin Madhukar, Senior Cardiologist, Apollo Telehealth.

The senior doctor also said due to the pandemic people are getting more stressed and depressed and indulging in substance abuse like smoking and drinking because of added insecurities. "Even if they are eating healthy food, due to lack of physical movement they are most likely to become couch potato. The continuous binging should be stopped, they should do exercises at home, cut down their diet, regular checkups on diabetes, BP if they have the diseases," he suggested.

Dr. Upali Nanda, Head - Preventive Health and Consultant - Internal Medicine, Medeor Hospital, Qutab Institutional Area, said they have seen an increase in instances of alcohol consumption and also in cases of insomnia, depression, anxiety and restlessness. She said due to a sedentary lifestyle, people are facing health issues which are manifested mostly in working professionals in the age groups of 30 to 55 years. "People need to take care of their posture while sitting in front of their computers and instead of bingeing on colas and fried foods, they should have salads. They should take a break in between their work and take a walk for 10 minutes. They can take to gardening, do aerobics or read a book to destress themselves," she added.