A healthy lifestyle as the basis for maintaining health and preventing the development of chronic diseases

Background. The United Nations Global Agenda “Sustainable Development Goals” adopted key directions for the development of the world’s countries by 2030 through the effective achievement of 17 global goals. To implement the third global goal, which concerns the achievement of good health and well-being and the prevention of the most common chronic diseases and deficiencies, the need to ensure the well-being of people of all ages and maintain a healthy lifestyle was substantiated. Objective: to review scientific research on the impact of a healthy lifestyle on the health of children and adolescents in modern conditions and to substantiate the need for conscious adherence to its main components (ba­lanced nutrition, adequate sleep, age-appropriate physical activity, and breaking bad habits (smoking and alcohol consumption)) to prevent the development of non-communicable diseases, obesity, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and vitamin D deficiency. ­Materials and methods. The literature review was based on the analysis of the results of published open-access scientific studies from PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and ResearchGate. We reviewed scientific studies published primarily in the last 5 years. 137 scientific publications were selected for this article. Results. It has been found that failure to maintain a ba­lanced diet, age-appropriate physical activity, and sufficient sleep, combined with tobacco and alcohol use, are closely related to health disorders and are accompanied by a high risk of developing severe socially significant non-communicable diseases (diabetes mellitus, cancer, chronic obstructive respiratory, and cardiovascular disea­ses), as well as overweight/obesity, gastroesophageal reflux disease, deficiencies and significant mortality in adults. The results of many studies and meta-analyses have confirmed that conscious adherence to the basic principles of a healthy lifestyle (normalization of nutrition and sleep, increased physical activity, breaking bad habits such as smoking and alcohol consumption),weight control, screening for vitamin and mineral status, and early family counseling can improve health and prevent the development of a number of chronic diseases and life-threate­ning deficiencies. Conclusions. Population’s conscious adherence to the principles of a healthy lifestyle from early childhood is the basis of the most effective, safe and economically sound preventive strategies whose implementation should be carried out by joint efforts of international organizations, state and non-state structures with the involvement of the public, media, professional associations, educators, and the medical community.