Culture and Disease Essay Example for Free

Culture and Disease Essay Human body consists of organs which each plays a role in a coordinated system to facilitate the normal function ability of the body. Sometimes the body might function abnormally due to failure of proper function of an organ or organs. In such a situation the organ might be affected by a disease which might inflict pain to the body, damaging it and often might result to total failure and eventually death. Diseases are common to human beings, animals and even plants. Diseases in most cases are preventable and curable although some diseases may cause permanent injuries and disability to the patient. Some several factors are related to various disease which might also dictate the extent on which it spreads and causes the effect. Diseases are classified according to various factors like what are the causes, the type, and means of contracting the disease, the affected species and many other factors (Cooter, Roger, and John Pickstone, eds. (2000). Human beings are vulnerable to majority of diseases which falls in different categories. Some of them are contagious which falls in different diseases have drastic effects and may cause death easily while others are easily curable and they cause no extensive damage to our body so long as they are treated. Depending on the kind of diseases, some are related to a particular culture. Examples of some diseases are like the heart diseases which affect the heart and its blood vessels tampering with the normal functioning of it. Heart diseases fall into different categories which include heart failure which involves the being unable to pump blood in the entire body which causes insufficient blood to reach all the targeted organs in the body well. Sometimes some organs malfunction due to less blood supplied to them. The other type of heart disease is the heart arrhythmias which cause the heart beat pace to change. The heart might beat faster than the normal pace or sometimes slower. Third type of disease is canomy artery disease which commonly causes the heart attack. This disease causes the heart to receive less blood than unaccepted due to the naming of the blood arteries hence the slow movement of the blood to the heart. The narrow artery tends to restrict sufficient flow of the blood to the heart. Sometimes the arteries are fully blocked leading to heart attack. Circumstances that cause the heart disease may differ depending on the conditions under which a person lives and the situation in which a person lives and the situation in which he or she is involved in. one of the conditions that might cause heart disease is the high blood cholesterol. Liver is the organ in the body that is responsible for producing the cholesterol which is essential in the body system. The cholesterol is delivered to the rest of the body cells through blood flow. Considering the substantial composition of the cholesterol and the fact that it comes from the animal ft and other saturated fats then there is a high risk when it is in high content in our bodies. Excessive cholesterol then sticks on the wall of the blood vessels like pulmonary arteries which narrows the passage hence insufficient blood reaching to the heart. This eventually might lead to a condition such as heart attack. Another way in which heart disease are caused, is through high blood pressure coupled with the problem of obesity. This situation is much contributed by obesity or overweight which may also lead to high blood cholesterol as previously discussed. Stress is also considered as another factor that contributed to the heart disease. This is a situation that affects someone’s emotions due to various reasons based on economic status, social status are psychological maters that concentrates on the thinking capacity of someone’s brain. According to () the blood pressure and the heart beat is mostly increased by the stress which can also increase the release of hormones of heart disease are increased. In this paper the concentration of heart diseases is focused on the African American race. Currently the cardio-vascular disease is more prevalent in the blacks than on the case of white people. This can be associated to several factors which causes or facilitates the dominancy of the heart disease. One of the factors is obesity. Being among the risks that leads to obesity, in United States African Americans have been found to be mostly affected by obesity in comparison to the white people. This might be as a result of eating habits and the lifestyle which in mot cases differs depending on the locality and the age. Physical inactivity may also attribute much in obesity and overweight which eventually contributes to heart diseases. Another factor is high rate of smoking among African American as compared to the white people. The smoke that is inhaled in the body is explained biologically on how it raises the heart beat and also it is responsible in raising the blood pressure. Nicotine and other compounds found in the cigarette also cause harm to the heart and also may lead to heart attack. Diabetes is another disease which is common to African Americans as compared to white people. Those suffering from the disease have bigger probability of contracting heart disease. In such situations the patient therefore needs more attention in order to reduce the risk of heart disease. Hypertension can also be considered as another factor among the African Americans which contribute to the development of heart diseases. African-American people have a different lifestyle from the white people which can easily be related to the individual health status. African Americans are exposed to the heart disease due to several environmental factors. Pollution of air is among the environmental factors that can contribute to the heart disease. African-Americans live in environment which is badly polluted with gases like carbondioxide and others which may directly or indirectly facilitate to the heart diseases (Rosenberg et al 1992). Smoking can be considered in the air pollution which exposes non smokers to the risk of being affected through breathing the smoked provided by smokers. This habit which is common to African American contributes to the factor that leads to heart diseases. Considered to be minor race in United States, African American find themselves in an environment whereby they feel isolated and sometimes there some unfavorable conditions like job strains etc. these factors may subsequently lead to a lot of cases of stress in individuals which might be related to the heart disease. According to Holman, C. D. J. , and B. K. Armstrong (1984), although not a major determining vulnerability to heart diseases. Delicate newborn babies can easily be exposed to the cause of heart diseases. From the research carried out African American who was born in southern part have higher rates of heart diseases than the whites born in the northern part. Food when eaten unselectively can pose a danger to the human health. Obesity which is common to African Americans is as a result of inconsiderate eating habits. Availability of fatty foods in African American locality can be an influential factor to such conditions which may lead to them consuming those foods unselectively hence leading to undesirable condition like obesity and over weight and eventually to heart disease. Heart diseases are mostly not contagious as compared to other diseases like flu, (Rosenberg et al 1992). One of the methods under which the heart disease can be transmitted from are person to another is through heredity. According to () in a situation whereby parents suffer from heart disease, there is always a likelihood of the disease to be passed to the generation that follows. Biological intervention has indicated that the heart disease can be transmitted from one person to the other genetically. This has been explained through the cardiology study and genetics. Various methods can be applied to control the heart disease. Among them include the client observation which may ensure that feeding habits are regulated to avoid obesity and overweight which is among the major contributing factors to the disease. Fatty foods especially from animal products which might cause the high levels of cholesterol should be regulated while feeding on them. Smoking and excessive intake of alcohol which have been considered to be directly or indirectly cause of heart disease ought to be critically regulated in order to minimize the vulnerability of heart diseases. As a way of reducing the chances of getting heart disease people should attempt to live a stress free life in order to avoid unnecessary hypertension which may result to heart diseases. Heart diseases among the African Americans can be treated through lipid modifying. Under this concept it’s biologically explained on how the lipid can be lowered in the body through lipid lowering therapy which is best explained biologically. The other method used is through lowering the level of the cholesterol in the blood. This is very effective in the sense that the arteries can be repaired from the narrow shape they had taken due to the elimination of the cholesterol in the arteries. African Americans also use the medications which are provided in the hospital which involves intake of prescribed medicine by a doctor or practitioners. Due to their social economic status, the African Americans are vulnerable to the prevalence of the heart disease. This depends on the background they come from and settled in the United States. Most feel that they still want to maintain their culture including even in clients. But still the consumption of these traditional foods also has the positive side to it on the side of medication. Culture has been seen to play a big part in influencing people’s ways of life. This is especially true when it comes to dietary constitution for different groups. Additionally, distinct lifestyles may be attributed to cultural groups and this also determines the nature of disease that the said group is exposed to. More cultural based research is therefore necessary to establish the practices that promote health so that they may be encouraged while discouraging those practices that increase groups risk of getting some diseases. References Cooter, Roger, and John Pickstone, eds. (2000). Medicine in the Twentieth Century. Amsterdam: Harwood,. Holman, C. D. J. , and B. K. Armstrong. 1984. Pigmentary traits, ethnic origin, benign nevi, and family history as risk factors for cutaneous malignant melanoma. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Rosenberg, Charles E. , and Janet Golden, eds. (1992). Framing Disease: Studies in Cultural History. New Brunswick, N. J. : Rutgers University Press.