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Aunt Li, 68, is a retired junior high school math teacher who lives in a quiet town. Since her retirement, she has become more leisurely, playing mahjong with her friends every day in addition to doing math problems.
Recently, however, she suddenly felt an upset stomach that gradually intensified and was eventually diagnosed with stomach cancer. This diagnosis was unbelievable to Aunt Li, who had always been health-conscious and couldn't understand why she had such a disease.
In the ward, Aunt Li had an in-depth conversation with the attending doctor, Dr. Zhang. Dr. Zhang carefully inquired about Aunt Li's lifestyle and finally found two key points: Aunt Li has the habit of eating too quickly at every meal and lying down to rest immediately after dinner.
"A lot of people have this habit, but they probably don't know how much pressure it puts on their stomachs. "Aunt Li's habit is to eat in a hurry at the dinner table, causing her to often swallow in a hurry without proper chewing.
This way of eating allows food that is not chewed enough to enter the stomach directly, forcing the stomach to secrete more stomach acid to aid digestion. In the long run, this habit causes continuous irritation and pressure on the gastric mucosa, which makes the gastric mucosa in a state of being forced to cope with larger molecular foods for a long time, which is very easy to cause gastric lesions.
Lying down and resting immediately after dinner makes it easy for stomach acid to reflux into the esophagus, which not only causes gastroesophageal reflux symptoms, but also causes damage to the mucous membranes of the lower esophagus and upper stomach.
Prolonged acid reflux is also one of the risk factors for stomach cancer. Dr. Zhang elaborated on how these two habits indirectly increased the risk of stomach cancer.
He explained that the constant pressure and irritation on the stomach caused by the habit of eating quickly and staying in bed immediately after a meal has accumulated over a long period of time and greatly increases the likelihood of developing stomach cancer. Dr Teo emphasises that these simple habits in our daily lives are closely linked to our long-term health, and improving these lifestyles is essential for disease prevention.
In this story, Dr. Teo also mentions another case of a 50-year-old professor who also ended up suffering from stomach cancer because of a long period of poor eating habits. Through this case, Dr. Zhang hopes that Aunt Li can learn that lifestyle adjustments should be paid attention to at any age to prevent the occurrence of stomach cancer.
Dr. Zhang advised Aunt Li to change these two habits: try to eat slowly and chew each bite more than 20 times to reduce the burden on the stomach, and wait at least three hours after dinner before going to bed to avoid acid reflux.
Dr. Zhang explained to Aunt Li why these lifestyle habits need to be taken seriously. He mentioned that the human digestive system is very complex, especially the stomach, which is not only responsible for digesting food, but also involves many physiological reactions and metabolic processes.
Maintaining a good diet not only helps in the digestion and absorption of food, but is also a key measure to prevent stomach diseases, including stomach cancer. Aunt Li began to eat each meal slowly, chewing each bite of food carefully, enjoying the taste of the food itself rather than swallowing it in a hurry.
Instead of lying down immediately after dinner, she also chooses to go for a walk or do some light chores to help digest the food until she feels her body is truly ready to rest.
A few months later, Aunt Li went to the hospital again for a follow-up, and the results showed that her stomach condition had improved significantly. It made her realize that small changes in her life can sometimes make a big difference.
Dr. Zhang is very pleased with the change in Aunt Li, and he knows that many patients have changed their lifestyle for a short time after being diagnosed, but few have been able to continue to do so much like Aunt Li.
Why do many people still ignore health knowledge and adhere to lifestyles that can cause illness in such a well-informed modern society? The pressures of work often prompt people to seek quick and convenient solutions, such as fast food, often at the expense of the nutritional quality of food.
These trends reflect the interaction between a wide range of social environments and individual choices, often at the expense of health. Second, even though health education is now more widespread than ever, there are still many people who lack awareness of the consequences of their actions, or who know the right way to do it, but find it difficult to stick to it for various reasons.
Changing a person's habits is not only about reminding them that "this is not good for health", but also about creating a health-friendly environment based on the social structure and cultural environment.
Aunt Lee's story and Dr. Zhang's insights provide us with an important perspective: changing your habits, even if it is a small step, can be a crucial step in the prevention and treatment of disease.
What do you think about stomach cancer? Welcome to discuss in the comment area!