Obesity

Millions of people die each year because of different causes, but do the majority know obesity ranks second among causes of death? Even though obesity is a serious concern in society, the majority of people don’t care or are too busy to care about the health effect it caused. “Obesity is a genuine problem in America, but our nation debate on the subject has become nothing short of hysterical,” (David Martosko, Center from consumer freedom) Obesity might be taken as a joke for most people but as it develops, the risk of getting health diseases doubles. Not only does obesity cause negative effects on ones health, but also will shorten ones life span. Many people in today’s society are technically classified as obese; however, by eating healthily and being active, individuals may combat obesity. The rate of obesity grows every year not only in the United States, but all over the world. The United States was ranked in the top 10 chart of the “Fattest Countries in the World” with a 74.1%, while Nauru is being ranked number 1 with a 94.5% of people being obese or overweight (www.healthylifejournal.org). Imagine how many people could die each year if they don’t learn or practice how to have a healthy lifestyle. Also, consider how difficult their life is going to be while being obese. Obese people will definitely have experiences of difficulty in walking or sleeping, they also will have a hard time doing things they wanted, and will miss out the real world while staying home all the time. Obesity in the United States has killed more than 400,000 Americans each year. Not everybody knows what the term “obesity” is. The term obesity basically means a medical condition in which excess body fats that have accumulated to the extent that it may have adverse effects on one’s health. There are five stages of classifications on body weights. The first stages are people that are normal weight, second stages define as overweight, then obese, severe obese, and last stage a person that is morbidly obese. Obesity is defined with BMI or Body Mass Index. A body Mass Index is an individual’s body mass divided by the square root of a person’s height. A person who has a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese, and if he or she has a BMI equal to or more than 25 that person is considered overweight. Being obese or overweight is a dangerous situation to watch out for, (www.obesityaction.org). Obesity can be a lifelong issue not only because it affects adults but also teenagers and children. More than 32 percent of all children in the United States today are either overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has been increasing tremendously in the past 30 years. It has increased from 7 percent to 30 percent in the past decade (www.cdc.gov). Childhood obesity has serious consequences and is dangerous because it leads to adults’ obesity if it is not prevented. Obesity starts at a young age because of parental neglect or abuse. Parents either feed their kids too much food or feed them too much food that contains many carbs, fat, and sugar, and do not encourage them to do physical activities to burn off fats. (In today’s society because parents are too busy to look out for their kids, letting them choose what to eat and not encourage them to have more (????????????????) Also, from watching too much T.V will lead to obesity. Kids today spent at least 55 hours a week not only watching T.V but also playing video games (CITE). According to Nielsen, “kids from ages 2-5 have spent nearly 32.5 hours just from watching television and from ages 6-11 has spends more than 28 hours from watching T.V (www.thedailygreen.com). Having a T.V makes children to lazy to go outside to take a walk or run around, but will encourage them to constantly eat snacks such as unhealthy chips, cookies, candy, and chocolate. Childhood obesity also will lead to negative effects on health if not taken care of. Childhood obesity has both immediate and long term effects on health and well-being. Obese children who have experienced immediate health affect will most likely to have risk factors of cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure. High blood pressure is caused when no one is overweight or obese or having too much salt in their diets. Therefore, having too much salty and oily food will (????????) high risk of getting high blood pressure. Lack of physical activity will also lead to have high blood pressure. Higher pressure on the artery walls increases the blood pressure. In addition, putting on weight can raise the heart rate and make it difficult for the body to transport blood through the vessels – or high cholesterols (?????????????) (www.stanfordhospital.org). They will also have high risks of developing diabetes, which usually begins in adulthood, but is now actually occurring in children. Obesity can cause resistance to insulin, the hormone that regulates the blood sugar. When obesity causes this resistance, the blood sugar becomes elevated. Even just moderate obesity dramatically increases the risk of getting diabetes. They can also get bone and joint problems, respiratory problems, and sleep apnea, which is when one stops breathing for brief periods, interrupts sleep throughout the night and causes sleepiness during the day, also causing heavy snoring. Respiratory problems associated with obesity occur when added weight from the chest wall squeezes the lungs and causes restricted breathing. Sleep apnea is also associated with high blood pressure. They can also possibly get stigmatization and poor self-esteem. In the long term health effects obese children will likely develop heart diseases such as type 2 diabetes, strokes, several type of cancer (Being overweight contributes to an increased risk for a different variety of cancers, including breast cancer, colon, and endometrium, while men who are overweight have a higher risk of prostate and colon cancers), and osteoarthritis. Wish these chronic disease more than 300,000 deaths occur each year because of unhealthy weight gain due to poor diets and lack of exercise, (www.stanfordhospital.org). To prevent children from being obese parents must make a change in their kids eating habits and start encouraging them to do physical activities in order to have a healthy life style and lower the chance of getting obese and developing related diseases. Parents must encourage or motivate their children to exercise every day and provide more nutritious foods to their daily eating habits. Children and parents should avoid eating too many fatty foods and limit the time that they spend watching television. This can be a way to reduce the chance of being obese. Sitting at home and having sedentary time won’t make a change in lifestyle, parents should make children go outside and have more active lifestyle such as walking, playing sports, running around with their friends, and other related or athletic activities. Living in a sedentary lifestyle can increase the risk of being obese and getting type 2 diabetes (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Although people frequently question “Am I at risk?” the answer isn’t obvious as one thinks it is. Just by cutting down on fatty foods, (or eat a large meal of fatty food then following up with a large meal of fatty foods.) doesn’t always mean you will be preventing obesity. One must control the amount of fatty food they intake, and balance it out with a workout routine that can help their diet effectively and efficiently. Parents should also try to be role models for active lifestyle and provide kids with opportunities to do more physical activity. Developing a plan of eating habits would be a great way to reduce eating less fatty foods. Obesity rates are highest in adults than any other ages. About 72.5 million American adults are overweight or obese in the United States today (www.cdc.gov). The prevalence of obesity in adults has increased between 1988-1994 and 2007-2008 from all income and educations levels (www.cdc.org). Adult obesity and childhood obesity share common traits and both have consequences on health. At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese (www.who.int). The main cause of adults being obese in the poor eating habits they have. According to intensive medical research, fatty and sugary foods can be as addictive as taking drugs. Many colleges and institutes have researched the overlapping of drugs in the brain and food in the brain. They have provided evidence that eating fatty food is like taking drugs in their daily basic activity. If one has stopped or (???????) less fatty food they will experience discomfort in their body and brains (www.huffington post.co.uk). Many people have problems controlling hunger and appetite because they eventually start to crave fattening, oily food that they eat a lot, and by not having them they sometimes get light headed or disoriented. Taking in more calories than needed in a day combined with a lack of physical activities cause obesity. Obesity is a genetic order disease; it can spread from one generation to another. Stress and lack of sleep is also one of the major causes that lead to obesity. Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary stated:
Stress plays an important role in causing obesity. When one’s body has increased insulin resistance it has to secrete more insulin to metabolize the food consumed. So if one has higher cortisone levels, it will lead to having more insulin resistance, which in turns causes weight gain (The Transcendental Meditation Program).
Some might not know medical illnesses can also cause one person to be obese, such as taking steroids, and psychiatric medications. Steroids can cause an increase in appetite and majority of psychiatric medications are known to generate weight gain and ultimately obesity in crime patients (www.tm.org). Some of the main reasons people are overeating is because of depression, anger, boredom, hopelessness, and stress (www.huffingtonpost.ca). One big thing that causes one to overeat is binge eating disorder. Binge eating disorder is when people ate huge amount of foods and cannot stop. People with binge eating disorder tend to eat when they are not hungry and tend to eat more when they are full. They cannot control their inability to stop eating or what they are eating. Binge eating is a dangerous way of leading to obesity. It will also deter your stamina, and, indirectly affects self-esteem in some cases. Alongside that, will usually cause the obese patient to develop certain types of health risks factor and diseases (www.kidshealth.org). There are more than 10 chronic diseases that an obese person can get. An obese person can get health risks such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, several types of cancer, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Also obesity can form stroke, liver and gall bladder disease, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, metabolic syndrome – consisting of abdominal obesity, elevated blood cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and all sort of blood components that obesity can cause. Insulin resistance with or without glucose intolerance, high blood pressure, and psychosocial effects are also one of the diseases that obesity can form. As in a culture where the ideal of physical attractiveness is to be overly thin, a lot of people who are overweight or obese frequently suffer disadvantages. Obese and overweight people are often blamed for their condition and may be considered to be weak-willed or lazy. It is not uncommon for obese overweight condition to result in persons having lower incomes or having fewer or no romantic relationships. Obese have to deal with their social life being made fun of and their emotional feelings. Obese people often feeling insecure and worry about what others think about them. They often get teased and suffer from bulling because of weight problems which lead them having low self-esteem. Having low self-esteems can lead to suicide which will become a big issue to those who get bullied every day. Obese or overweight individuals have to suffer from negative stereotypes such as being call jolly, fat, lazy, unattractive, sloppy, and many more. Disapproval of overweight persons expressed by some individuals may progress to bias, torment, and even discrimination. Al of these diseases and problems can harm the body and can end one’s life. Societies today are too carefree, parents and kids are too busy dealing with their basic life. Therefore, getting obese or being obese is a major cause and concern for society today. Obesity not only form health risks that lead to diseases, but can end one’s life. Obese children and adults not only have to go through major health concerns but have to struggle with negative stereotypes from others. Therefore, eating healthily, maintaining a healthy weight, and prevent from being overweight or obese is a “must to do in a person daily lifestyle lists”, Obesity is a major concern in total health, lifestyle, physical or mentally.