Importance of Preventing Obesity

Introduction

Each human being desires quality and long life. Various conditions hamper quality life and result in different types of illnesses some of which maybe chronic. As such, it is important to adopt a healthy lifestyle that enhances quality of life by preventing such diseases. Obesity is one such condition that can lead to poor quality of life and lead to various lifestyle diseases like hypertension, stroke, and heart attack among others. This essay seeks to explain why it is important to prevent obesity.

Obesity

Obesity refers to a condition in which a person is usually overweight with unusually high levels of body fat. However, obesity and overweight do not refer to the same thing. A person maybe overweights without necessarily being obese because muscle, bones, or body water can contribute to weight too just like the fats can. High levels of body fat determine if one is obese or not and this is usually arrived at by calculating the body mass index (NHS Choices, 2013).

A person’s weight in terms of kilograms divided by a person’s height in squared meters gives a person’s body mass index. A body mass index of between twenty-five and twenty-nine indicates that a person is overweight. A body mass index of between thirty and forty shows that a person is obese while a body mass index of forty and over shows that a person is overly obese. It is also possible to measure obesity or risk of contracting diseases associated with obesity by checking the waistline. Men with a waistline that measures over 94 centimeters and women with waistlines measuring over 80 centimeters are likely to develop obesity related diseases.

Significance of Preventing Obesity

Obesity increases chances of developing various life-threatening diseases. Such diseases include diabetes type two, heart diseases as well as various types of cancer like breast cancer, cancer of the colon and stroke. In some circumstances, obesity can lead to poor quality of life resulting in conditions like depression (NHS Choices, 2013). Diabetes is a lifetime disease that makes a person’s blood sugar levels to rise. Diabetes type two is common in people who are over forty years old though several cases of diabetes two manifest in younger people too. Diabetes type two results when a body cannot produce insulin at all. Common symptoms include excessive thirst, frequent passing of urine especially at night, general feeling of tiredness and weight loss marked by wasted muscles (NHS Choices, 2013).

Depression is usually confused with low moods but it is deeper than that. Depression manifests through symptoms such as constant feelings of forlornness, hopelessness and lack of interest in things that one has always enjoyed doing. In addition, depressed people have increased anxiety, as well as constant feelings of lethargy, low libido and different types of pains and aches (NHS Choices, 2013). Mild depression leads to low spirits and constant suicidal thoughts.

Causes and Treatment of Obesity

Obesity results from excessive intakes of calories that the body cannot break down. This becomes possible through current lifestyles where people easily access cheap and high-energy meals, people rarely exercise their bodies and are usually indoors or in automobiles. The best way to maintain right body weight is proper dieting and constant monitoring of weight. In addition, some medication like ‘orlistat’ assists in reducing obesity. Surgery is the last resort to obesity (NHS Choices, 2013).

References

NHS Choices. (2013). Clinical Depression. Web.

NHS Choices. (2013). Diabetes, type 2. Web.

NHS Choices. (2013). Obesity. Web.