Lifestyle diseases are striking the young while the system looks away
Hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks at frighteningly young ages, obesity, and mental health disorders are no longer rare medical terms; they are turning into everyday realities in neighbourhoods across the Valley. This health crisis did not arrive overnight. It has been carefully engineered by our changing way of life. The traditional Kashmiri routine, physically demanding work, long walks, simple diets, and early nights, has been replaced by a toxic cocktail: long hours of idleness, screen addiction, junk food, late‑night social media marathons, and chronic stress. Add to this the easy availability of sugary drinks and fast food on every corner, and we have designed a perfect breeding ground for disease. Hospitals in Srinagar and other districts tell the story more bluntly than any statistic. OPDs are crowded with patients complaining of chest pain, uncontrolled sugar, high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. Doctors quietly admit that they now see heart attacks in people in their early thirties, strokes in the forties, and advanced diabetes before fifty. A society once praised for its resilience is now buckling under the weight of its own habits. The response so far has been timid and fragmented: occasional awareness drives, a few posters in hospitals, some social media campaigns. But awareness without action is a cruel joke. Where are the sustained, school‑based programmes to teach children about nutrition and exercise? Where are the community‑level screenings in villages and urban mohallas? Where is the regulation on misleading food advertising that glamorises what is slowly poisoning our youth? Responsibility does not lie with the government alone. Religious leaders, elders, teachers, and parents all have a role. Friday sermons that thunder against social evils must also speak about the sin of neglecting one’s health. Schools that obsess over marks must also insist on sports and daily physical activity. Families that proudly serve heavy, oily feasts must learn that love is also a bowl of fruit and a brisk evening walk. If Kashmir continues to treat lifestyle diseases as “normal”, the Valley will quietly lose its most precious asset: its people in their most productive years. AI may dominate the headlines, but it is lifestyle that will decide whether the next generation lives long enough to change those headlines.
