What is Obesity

Obesity is a significant health problem that delimits life quality while enhancing the risk of some chronic diseases. Obesity reduces the physical activity of the body, causes sleeping disorders, insufficient oxygen intake, and unavoidable fatigue. An obese person may feel unhappy with the body proportions and get stressed with the fight against gaining weight or unsuccessful attempts to lose pounds. To find the correct path to control the obesity problem, you need to know who is obese and what causes excessive weight gain.

Defining Obese People

Although the terms ¨obese¨ and ¨ overweight¨ are usually uttered interchangeably, they have different connotations. Both of these terms are related to excessive or abnormal fat accumulation that disqualifies an individual’s health. A person is counted as ¨overweight¨ if the body mass index (BMI) equals 25 or greater than that. If the body mass index is higher than 30, he/she can be counted as ¨obese¨.

Obesity is not a gender-specific or age-specific situation. Overweight children have become more and more common nowadays than they used to be a century ago. Over the world, 38 million children under the age of 5 were recorded overweight or obese in 2019. Frighteningly, overweight adolescents are prone to become obese adults unless any treatments or measures are taken.

Noticing The Habitual Causes of Obesity

According to World Health Organization’s records, the obese population has tripled during the latest 50 years because of the ongoing industrial food processing that emerged in the 20th century. Energy consumption has decreased due to physically more inactive lifestyles. Driving work or taking public transport rather than cycling and walking makes people less active in their daily routines. Furthermore, changes in diets, fast food trends, and less consumption of fresh food have increased excessive calorie intake. The use of extra salt, more carbohydrates, and unsaturated fats make dietary habits worse because urban life needs faster eating, faster living, and faster access to the office, school, or home.

Screening The Effects of Obesity

Obese and overweight people are more exposed to the risks of chronic diseases than normal-weight or underweight individuals. Cardiovascular problems, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis, and sleeping disorders like apnea are common among overweight people. Some cancer types are not far from obesity either. Ovarian, prostate, breast, liver, gallbladder, and colon cancers are mostly observed in obese adults and patients. Comparisons of mortality figures among toddlers show that obese children have higher death rates than underweight peers. High blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes type II are observed extensively among obese and overweight citizens, particularly in Europe and North America.

Checking Measures against Obesity

Apart from genetic factors, obesity is preventable and controllable. Less energy and alcohol intake, balanced diets rich in vitamins, and regular physical activities are the most effective recommended methods. Walking, jogging, or outdoor sports also help muscles work and use energy. It is recommended that community-wide health promotion should be planned and implemented because obesity is a common health problem of both individuals and societies. On the other hand, for the individuals, new obesity treatments as surgical and non-surgical interventions may also help complicated cases of obese patients. You can check innovative obesity treatments as alternative solutions.          

You can contact Gotocure for information about obesity treatments.