It is reported that by 2030, there will be 52 million deaths globally each year that will be attributed to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (Aggarwal et al., 2018; Islam et al., 2024)). Moreover, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 63% of deaths worldwide each year are caused by NCDs like diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, specific types of cancers, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke. As a result, these conditions are regarded as severe chronic illnesses that collectively cause significant death rates that are mostly avoidable (Blunt & Kafatos, 2019).

Numerous studies show that having a healthy weight, quitting smoking, getting enough sleep, eating the right foods, and engaging in other health-promoting activities significantly impact ones health. Because many aspects of a patients lifestyle could play a significant role in preventing chronic illnesses, lifestyle medicine (LM) can support the lower risk associated with lifestyle variables (Ferrer & Mendes, 2018; Huang et al., 2018; Saklayen, 2018). The main goal of this review is to draw attention to how diet affects clinical outcomes and overall health in chronic, metabolically active disorders.

Each year, 71% of global deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Poor lifestyle choices - such as unhealthy eating and lack of exercise - contribute to their risk, especially in third-world countries. Studies have shown mixed results: one found no increase in physical activity levels among participants. At the same time, another reported high dropout rates but noted improved general health among those who stayed with the program (Samdal et al., 2019). Improve peoples mental and physical health by focusing on diet and exercise. 

Obesity and overweight (Chaudhuri & Islam, 2025; Emerson et al., 2018; Salemonsen et al., 2018) can be alleviated from the influences of social, environmental, and behavioral factors through targeted interventions. Effective measures and strategies are being adopted or proposed in various contexts, such as financial challenges, marketing limitations, primary healthcare solutions, and school programs. To change the obesity epidemic and foster healthy eating and active living for everyone, the research calls for immediate action and a useful strategy that promotes healthy eating and diet, increased physical exercise and modifications to environmental elements (Islam et al., 2021).

Proposed Suggestions

Our daily lifestyle, like our eating, exercise and sleeping habits, affects our health both in the long and short run. Below, well look at the lifestyle areas and their effects.

Physical Activity

Regular exercise (yoga, cardio, gym, etc.) positively affects our health. It protects us from many deadly diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and several cancers (Andersen et al., 2019). Just like food, physical activities are crucial in keeping us healthy by avoiding diseases. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week (Andersen et al., 2019). This exercise regime that all people should seek to follow with those facing higher risk of heart related diseases aiming to improve upon the exercise rates aforementioned by the AHA. 

Practically every organization on chronic disease prevention suggests physical activity, with proof and guidelines for managing chronic disorders. Moreover, there is compelling evidence that regular physical activity (including training, yoga, or cardio) improves stress management, reduces anxiety and depression, and supports cognitive function. 

Diet

Daily caloric intakes should be 1200 - 1500 kcal for women and 1500 - 1800 kcal for men, adjusted for body weight and activity levels. You can balance your calorie intake by controlling your portion size and your daily fat and sugar intake (Cena & Calder, 2020; Powell et al., 2019). Calorie and fat intake are essential if one wants to lose weight. It is recommended that the daily intake of calories should be 500 - 750 (Rippe, 2018). 

Kcal

Those under 113 kg (250 lb) should consume 1200 - 1500 kcal, while those over 113 kg should aim for 1500 - 1800 kcal. American guidelines suggest taking 15-20% of daily calories from protein, 20-35% from fats (less than 10% from saturated fats), and the rest from carbohydrates. Which should contain vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and nothing else (Chatterjee et al., 2021; Wadden et al., 2020).

Sleep

Life and sleep are interconnected. Getting enough sleep is essential to living a healthy life. If you dont get proper sleep or have sleep disturbances, it can negatively affect your health and mind. It directly impacts both physical and mental health. Your lifestyle choices directly affect your sleep quality. A healthy lifestyle can give you healthy sleep. A stressful or bad day can lead to no sleep or sleep disturbances, affecting your blood pressure or increasing anxiety or stress levels.

Nutrition

Many organizations work on lifestyle choices and provide dietary guidelines. Which says nutrition in the human body has a critical role to play in preventing chronic disease. These guidelines advocate for diets rich in vegetables, fruits, high-fiber whole grains, low-fat dairy, seafood, legumes, and nuts. They recommend moderate alcohol consumption for adults and advise limiting refined grains, red and processed meats, refined sugar, and foods high in trans fats and saturated fats. To have a healthy life, its essential to have nutritious food. These guidelines also encourage maintaining an optimal weight through a balanced diet  (Rippe, 2018).

Smoking

According to Gordon, (2017) several strategies can support ending smoking (Sopa & Pomohaci, 2018). Starting by cutting down tobacco by having nicotine craving reduction products like nicotine gums or vaping initially or by consuming less per day. Its also essential to resist smoking urges and stay away from places where smoking is common. Getting a new hobby or good addiction like cleaning, exercising (like yoga cardio), meditating, swimming, or reading can certainly help one keep away from cravings (Ridzuan et al., 2018). Quitting smoking can make your health and organs better by minimizing the risk of lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, and respiratory issues. By quitting smoking, you also help eliminate passive smokers like people around you, your friends, and your family.

Anxiety, Stress, and Depression

Stress is unavoidable in todays fast-paced world. Adequate sleep is essential in stress management (Ridzuan et al., 2018). Stress can increase anxiety and depression - up to one-third of American adults are affected by it in their daily activities at home and work. A positive attitude towards life can help change these conditions. Regular physical activity and positive psychology approaches like forgiveness and gratitude also help minimize anxiety, stress, and depression (Gurley, 2019; Morton, 2018).

Alcohol

Avoiding alcohol contributes to a healthier lifestyle by reducing high blood pressure risks, stroke, cancer, and organ failure. Consuming regular alcohol may even lead to liver and kidney failure. Individuals can enjoy happier, more nutritious, and more fulfilling lives and retain memories of their actions by avoiding alcohol. Strategies to prevent alcohol consumption include resisting the urge to drink or gradually reducing intake over time. Avoiding social events with alcohol presence, like bars or pubs, can also support a healthier lifestyle (Ridzuan et al., 2018).

This paper proposes essential strategies, applicable to a diverse patient profile, to ensure individuals can lead healthier lives and increase their lifespan. Exercising on a regular basis for 2.5 hours a week at minimum is a vital technique for preserving good health and decreasing the chances of developing diseases. Additionally, it has been established that it can enhance mental health. The alleviation of stress, obtaining adequate sleep, and avoiding or moderating the consumption of alcohol and tobacco are essential methods for enhancing ones health.

Influence of sport activities on maintaining health

A research was conducted in 2017–2018 with students from four departments at the "Lucian Blaga" University from Sibiu: the colleges of business, law, engineering, and science. The questionnaire was made to know the lifestyle habits of students and the impact sports and other physical activities have on their health at “Lucian Blaga” University Sibiu (Sopa & Pomohaci, 2018).

The survey revealed that students have different opinions about playing sports to maintain their health and most students do not consider it very important. This demonstrates the need to encourage exercise and provide further information on its health benefits, especially at an early age. Public health education should focus more on interventions that target younger children to carry on health practices early in life.

Fig. 1: The influence of sports activities on maintaining health parameters (Sopa & Pomohaci, 2018).

Such an approach would follow the life course principle in public health and prevent disease onset through effective exercise practice continued from childhood. 

Modern technology encourages changes to conventional lifestyles

In much of the research on Obesity Guidelines, participants in the Look AHEAD and DPP programs were manually required to write down their diet and physical activities in diaries. But in the recent decade, people have become much more advanced and dependent on technology. Many tools are available for tracking weight or seeing how many calories are burnt or consumed daily (Aspry et al., 2018; Chatterjee et al., 2021; Sharma et al., 2024). 

The following Table 1 lists some of these tools and their benefits over the typical manual way of using diaries to keep records, such as lower numeracy requirements, improved accuracy, and ease of use (Uploaded as Supplementary Materials file).  

Barriers/disadvantages of a healthy diet

We reviewed the five studies involving 1,855 participants. These studies consistently identified several barriers to adhering to a healthy diet: a shortage of time, family and organizational issues, the high (or perceived high) costs associated with a balanced diet, body image and physical health concerns, and motivational challenges in changing ones lifestyle (Cavallo et al., 2023).

Lack of time 

One primary barrier was the time involved. The extended duration of the patients dialysis sessions, including the time to travel between home and the dialysis center, often caused them to miss a main meal. This, in turn, made it challenging for them to prepare healthy meals and decreased their motivation to eat healthy.

Gender-related differences 

The research found several hurdles strongly linked to womens perceptions of their bodies, their educational attainment, and their work position, their role as careers or their families, and their financial situation. For example, a lower income and younger age might raise the likelihood of food insecurity.

Environmental barriers 

Bad Road conditions, which require people to take many different routes to and from the hemodialysis center, also add to the challenges of maintaining the diet that has been suggested.

Ethnicity-related differences 

Food insecurity doesnt vary among white or black people in a Pennsylvanian educator population. Similarly, ethnicity is not an essential factor in determining whether or not someone would stick to a dietary intervention that includes in-person counselling (Cavallo et al., 2023).

Economic & financial barriers 

Patients also frequently expressed concerns about the ease of shopping at big-box retailers, where getting things at a discount or for less money is more accessible. Some stated that they were forced to forgo prescriptions due to financial issues, which caused their dietary decisions to become increasingly influenced by short-term financial concerns (Cavallo et al., 2023).

Suggestions of how to improve lifestyle

With the invention of new technologies like reminders, motivational tools, and (dietary intake and activity) trackers. That helps people adopt healthy habits, which can be challenging because of the sacrifices one has to make (Livingston et al., 2021). 

Integrating lifestyle assessments with clinical procedures

Although heart failure (HF) mortality rates have improved, HF incidents continue to rise due to factors like emotional stress, obesity, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition. The increasing rate of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), which lacks effective drug or technology treatments, highlights the importance of lifestyle changes for prevention. People with HF benefit the most from exercise. Ensuring a healthy weight is very important in preventing HF. In contrast, the long-term benefits of mind-body or stress reduction therapies (like yoga or meditation) and supplements for stress reduction could be more helpful. Patients are also asked to start home exercise and meditation routines and even join cardiac rehabilitation programs (Krist et al., 2020).

Digital engagement in lifestyle well-being

Unhealthy lifestyles affect health at all ages, races, and genders, highlighting the need for well-structured programs to tackle these issues. Future research on healthy lifestyles should involve larger samples and rigorous methods (Brigden et al., 2020; Lin et al., 2018; Nguyen et al., 2020; Short et al., 2018; Steene-Johannessen et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). Changes to physical environments and policies can also help increase physical activity, though the effectiveness of these interventions can vary (Blackburn et al., 2020; Petersen et al., 2020; Prince, Cardilli, et al., 2020; Prince, Melvin, et al., 2020).

Technology-based health education can help boost healthy lifestyle behavior. Digital tools, significant step counters, and mobile health (mHealth) apps are increasingly used to support chronic disease management and promote physical activity (Fig. 1) (Geidl et al., 2020; Krist et al., 2020; McKay et al., 2019; Prince et al., 2020). However, many apps must improve their evaluation and design to be more efficacious (Brigden et al., 2020; Lin et al., 2018; Short et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2020). 

In clinical practice, behavior change strategies are utilized to address lifestyle counselling 

According to self-determination, people feel more motivated when they believe they control events. Based on behavior change concepts and using an action - and solution-focused approach, the 5A emphasizes competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Fulfilling these behaviors might boost long-term health and well-being, encourage the adoption of healthy behavior, and increase intrinsic drive (Krist et al., 2020).

Table 3 shows a framework used by doctors (Uploaded as Supplementary Materials file). The 5As framework patient-centered therapy protocol for doctors facilitates discussions on healthy living (Aspry et al., 2018).

Fig: 2: Digital intervention strategies promoting a healthy lifestyle (Chatterjee et al., 2021).

It can be completed within 15 minutes. This approach leverages doctors unique position to initiate conversations about lifestyle changes. Many Americans trust them, evidenced by their role in over half of all physician visits 2016 (Livingston et al., 2021). 

This extensive support can come from various healthcare professionals, including nutritionists, fitness experts, doctors, nurses, and behavioral counselors. However, the guidelines also discuss the challenges of limitations or financial issues that can hamper the implementation in the healthcare system (Krist et al., 2020).

Food to maintain a healthy lifestyle

It is recommended by the WHO to have a balanced diet containing fruits, vegetables, fats, whole grains, nuts, and legumes. The guidelines recommend limiting saturated fats to under 10% of daily calories, trans fats to below 1% of total food consumption, and salt intake to no more than 5 grams per day. Unsaturated fats are preferred over saturated and trans fats. It advises keeping total fat intake at < 30% of the food intake, reducing sweet intake to 5–10% of total calories, and balancing calorie intake with other energy expenditure like proteins or vitamins (Sharma et al., 2024).

Unhealthy cuisine

A report on PA 3679 shows that clostridium sporogenes may be found in Home-canned cakes. Foodborne botulism is an uncommon but potentially deadly illness that is caused by having preserved or fermented food. 

Processed and ultra-processed food

Processed foods are designed in a lucrative way to attract consumers eyes, but they contain certain kinds of ingredients and are not found in typical home-cooked food. They are very harmful to health and are found in plastic packets (Chatterjee et al., 2021).

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are often low in vitamins, fiber, and nutritional value. They also contain a high amount of sugar, salt, and trans fats. Despite usually being marketed with health benefit claims, such as aiding weight loss, these products are frequently promoted using misleading marketing tactics and questionable research. Fig. 3 below shows a balanced diet chart so that you can follow a daily healthy eating pattern (Chatterjee et al., 2021). 

Fig. 3: Generalized healthy diet lifestyle pyramid (Cena & Calder, 2020).

This paper outlines the key recommendations that can be taken across a diverse patient profile to ensure that people are able to lead healthier lives to prolong their lives. Regular physical exercise is a key method to promote health and reduce risk of disease and also has been shown to improve mental health as well. Reduction of stress, proper sleep and limiting or abstaining from alcohol and smoking are also major ways to improve health. Modern technology such as smart watches and apps are now a new tool that will be especially important to track and record information on a persons diet and total exercise levels. These smart tools can also encourage healthy behavior through gamification of active movement and promotion of competition among friends or relatives who also have the same app. This can also be utilized by physicians to track a patients progress in regards to proposed diet recommendations and exercise levels. Increased transparency and education regarding how to be healthy will be increasingly important to create a healthier population to prevent disease onset and increase longevity. Detailed educational resources and recommendations about how to stay healthy through lifestyle changes as well as digital technologies to promote adherence to such policies will be exceedingly important. Tools such as smart watches and mobile phone apps which track diet and exercise present a new solution that can be used by physicians and patients alike to increase quality of life and longevity for all.

The idea for the study was collectively brainstormed by all the contributors. MSI was tasked with creating the research design. IC undertook the data collection, analysis, and drafting of the preliminary report.  The authors collaboratively finalized the manuscript, including editing and approval of the final version.

We offer our sincere gratitude to Zomana Majid of Boston, USA, for her invaluable contributions and insightful feedback, which greatly improved the manuscript.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest that could affect the objectivity of this studys findings.