Source: Obesity by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free
Obesity is a well-known health condition which acts as a precursor to other health risks and diseases. Every other person knows how dangerous it can be and how difficult it is to reverse after it hits. How many people know about it in detail though? I don’t think many.
What is Obesity?
Obesity is a health condition that progresses and increases over time. It is chronic. This means that it is a long-term disease and won’t be leaving its victims anytime soon! This epidemic disease can act as a precursor to diseases like cancer, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Diseases like these require financial attention and can become a burden on the patients.
Excessive fat deposits (adipose tissue) are the culprits who cause Obesity. Another reason is the increased secretion of pathogenetic products from enlarged fat cells. The very quality of life gets endangered when one gets obese. The body mass index is used as an indicator for checking obesity. In adults, if the Body Mass Index crosses 30 and increases more than that, the patient is said to suffer from obesity. And if it increases even more, the patient becomes more prone to getting type 2 diabetes, and other diseases.
How do you get Obese?
Many health, social, and economic factors can cause diabetes. The main reason behind the onset of diabetes, which you can control, is taking in more calories than you can burn in daily activities. These extra calories keep on adding up and lead to weight gain. There are several other factors like genetics, old age, high stress, inadequate sleep, pregnancy, PCOS, and more which you can’t control.
Many patients suffer from certain psychological health conditions. These problems require emotional support and often times, the patients cope by eating more, not keeping a proper diet, not exercising properly, and smoking amongst other problematic habits. Sometimes, even medications can cause weight gain- these medicines are mostly antidepressants, beta-blockers, and antipsychotics.
What’s the cure?
Obesity can be prevented very easily if one wants to. There are some basic things you need to keep in mind which will drastically reduce your chances of getting overweight and obese.
- Limit consumption of sugar rich and energy-dense food and drinks
- Limit your screen time
- Engage in regular physical activity
- Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts
- Avoid tobacco and alcohol as much as possible
- Get counselling for a healthy lifestyle and diet
- Reduce the sugar, salt, and fat content in your food
- Joining support groups which may help you cope with issues related to mental health syndromes
Going to a doctor is recommended when your symptoms become too uncomfortable to bear. They also typically recommend changing behavioral habits and lifestyle to tackle them.
Areas of Impact
Many experts classify this health condition as a pandemic today because a very significant portion of the global population has fallen prey to it. 2.5 billion adults aged 18 years and older were found to be overweight in the year 2022. 890 million people out of this total amount was obese. This means that 43% people of the total population was overweight. This marked an increase from the 25% of the adult population in 1990. And unfortunately, this number will probably grow to 46% in 2035. The stats we got from this info showed that the distribution of obesity varied from one region to another- from 67% in the Americas to 31% in the WHO South-East Asia region.
In a survey conducted in 2023, it was found that obesity is the fourth biggest health problems faced by countries worldwide after mental health, cancer, and stress. The global economic impact this disease has is also predicted to increase from 1.96 trillion US dollars to 4.32 trillion by 2035.
Currently, the countries with the highest rate of obese women are Samoa, Kuwait, and Tonga. The countries with the highest rate of obese men are Samoa, the United States, and Tonga. Tonga suffers the most with 80% of men and 87% of women being overweight or obese.
Many other developing as well as developed countries are reporting an incline in their obesity charts with more and more people gaining excessive weight and becoming a good target for more serious diseases. Now that you have read this article, you will understand how dire the situation is. And hopefully, you will also start working towards a healthier future for yourself.
Resources
- George A. Bray, Medical Consequences of Obesity, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 89, Issue 6, 1 June 2004, Pages 2583–2589, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2004-0535
- World. (2024, March). Obesity and overweight. Who.int; World Health Organization: WHO. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
- Moores, D. (2020, July 31). Obesity: What You Need to Know. Healthline; Healthline Media. https://www.healthline.com/health/obesity
- Topic: Obesity worldwide. (2024). Statista; Statista. https://www.statista.com/topics/9037/obesity-worldwide/#topicOverview
