What is Obesity?
Obesity is defined as one of the severe, chronic disease which leads to a huge number of health conditions and serious complications. A person is diagnosed to be overweight if their body contains a higher degree of fat than a normal person does. According to many recent research, the number of obese people all over the world has reached its highest peak in the last twenty five years. Not only does obesity negatively affect people's health, but it also directly places rising demands on health care services, as well as some economic problems.
What are the Health Problems Associated with Obesity?
1. High Blood Pressure and Diabetes
First of all, obesity-related health effects are wide-ranging, causing severe damage to both adults and children. For example, high blood pressure stems from the fact that needless extra weight dramatically increases pressure on the heart's workload, pushing it to pump blood faster into our blood vessels. This means the hurry circulation will put high pressure onto the artery walls, leading to rising blood pressure.
In addition, obesity also results in type 2 diabetes. Unlike in the past when diabetes is a problem of the adulthood, type 2 diabetes has now spread to children also. This type of diabetes is able to make the body resist to insulin, which is in charge of regulating sugar in our blood. As a result, elevated blood sugar occurs, leading to type 2 diabetes and many associated problems.
2. Cardiac and Joint Complications
Another health complication that obesity is blamed for is heart disease. A condition called atherosclerosis occurs within the obese people ten times more usual than a normal healthy body. Most importantly, chest pain or sudden heart attacks are the serious consequences of decreased blood flow and narrowed arteries.
Besides, such tight arteries can also lead to blood clots and higher chances of stroke. In addition, obesity contributes to an increased risk of joint problems such as osteoarthritis, which results from the stress being placed on joints because of additional fat. In this case, although joint surgery can be operated to replace the damaged joint with an artificial one, it can lead to further complications if the joint loosens.
3. Ineffective Metabolism and Sleep Apnea
Metabolic syndrome has also been identified as one of the most complex health risk factors for obesity-related disease. According to a survey carried out in the United States, nearly one-third of obese people are diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. Moreover, overweight people might suffer from a condition which makes people stop breathing periodically in their sleep, which is scientifically called sleep apnea. Furthermore, sleep apnea is also claimed to lead to higher blood pressure and respiratory problems.
4. Cancers and Psychological Problems
In fact, obesity is likely to significantly increase the risk of a wide range of cancers such as gallbladder, uterus, colon and breast cancer, whereas men are usually found to encounter prostaste cancer and colon cancer.
Apart from those physical effects, overweight people may also suffer from psychological problems since their appearances do not meet the usual beauty standard.
Consequently, the act of body-shaming by some people can lead to discrimination, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression or even bias. Many seriously obese children also admit to have sleep disorders.
Advice from Professionals
Scientists have proposed many efficient solutions to prevent obesity. Firstly, people need to set up their own healthy diet after consulting the doctor and strictly follow it in order to maintain a healthy weight.
To be more specific, grains, vegetables and other similar healthy food should regularly appear within your diet because they contain a lot of vitamins and nutrious components, helping you to avoid weight gain.
Furthermore, doing exercise on a regular basis is also an essential part of achieving your desired weight. Either joining a gym or working out at home on your own is acceptable because it greatly contributes to the process of eliminating extra fat.
One of the most important factor you should keep in mind is that you must avoid eating late at night as much as possible. Eating at late night leads the calories to stay still in your stomach because they have nowhere else to go, thus you ought to pay attention to what you are about to eat after dinner.
Another feasible method is to take a short walk after one or two hours working, which helps the blood circulates better and free an amount of the total calories taken in.