in the last few years health has soared its way to the top of our priority list weve become conscious of our diet we are exercising more than the previous generations and our lifestyle choices have become considerably clean despite health being an active pursuit most of us still believe that being fit externally is about being healthy internally too we are often ignorant about the subtle signs that our body gives us ironic as it may seem we would discover that most of us have been guilty of either ignoring or selfdoctoring the signals that our body gives us from time to time a persistent cough is shunned as seasonal flu constant heartburn is dismissed as acid reflux and the everpresent backache is brushed off as an occupational hazard this leaves us to wonder if the definition of healthy in itself is flawed for most of us either we think that these symptoms are not serious enough to pay attention to or that we are too young and healthy to fall prey to any serious ailment as a part of its corporate social responsibility programme icici prudential life insurance company limited in association with times of india has conducted the mission healthy india survey 2020 that studied the various reasons why we ignore the warning signs of waning health that our body always gives us the survey that attempted to understand indians understanding of critical illness and how they can be prevented by paying more attention to the bodys signs had some staggering revelations 60 of the survey respondents believe that a fitlooking body is a healthy body whats worse is that almost 99 of these people have experienced symptoms like persistent shoulder pain constant breathlessness or fatigue lumps in the body and certain other recurring signs and symptoms while these symptoms are telltale signs of a body experiencing issues and an indicator to get an immediate checkup a whopping 49 of people do not recognise these as symptoms of critical illnesses among the remaining 51 of the respondents who know that these signs evidence the presence of a problem in the body 59 of the people do not go to a doctor and either selfmedicate ask family and friends for advice or choose to ignore these signs this lackadaisical attitude is enough to explain why critical illnesses have been on a perpetual rise in the country in the last decade a quick glance into the critical illness trend in the country discloses that age is no longer a criterion for people falling prey to diseases lifestyle ailments like cancer heart disease cholesterol disorder diabetes etc have increased at an alarming rate an indian heart association report also attributes 25 of all heart diseases to people under 40 years of age this is enough to ring a bell among people to be wary and watchful of their bodys signs and act proactively in seeking medical support congratulationsyou have successfully cast your votelogin to view resultlistening to our body