Obesity – Overview, Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

We frequently talk about obesity. It also happens that we call out someone an obese. But do we really know what obesity is actually? Are you aware what it is and how it differs from being overweight?

Obesity – Overview:

In medical term, obesity is a condition where you have an excess of body mass which is affecting your health in an adverse way. These effects can be the decrease in life expectancy or the health problems. It is said that a person who has 30 Body Mass Index (BMI) or more is an obese. If your BMI is 25 or more than it then you are considered as overweight. The BMI is calculated in a very easy way. All you have to divide your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. If your BMI comes to 30 or above 30, then it is high time you should take your health seriously.

Causes of Obesity:

Everyone loves food. Our health depends on the kind of food we eat and how much we involve ourselves in physical activity. Listed are the causes due to which you are an obese person.

• Eating habit: For being an obese, our eating habit plays an important part. When we love something we tend to overeat at beyond the capacity of our body. Due to this, these food go and settle in various parts of our body turning us into overweight and then obese.
  

• Being alcoholic: Alcohol is not recommended for your health and this being of the reasons. In a research done it was found that those who consume the most amount of alcohol are tend to increase their BMI when compared to those who consume it less or didn’t consume at all.
  

• Age: Believe it or not but age is another factor that increases the chance of obesity in you. As we grow older, our metabolism starts working slow. Due to this, even if we eat the same amount of food and do same physical exercise as we used to do when we were in our 20s, our weight increases. You can’t have options either to increase the activity so that you stop deposition of fat around your body or watch your food or do both.
  

• Gender: It is said that women have a higher tendency of getting obese than men. Men are considered to burn more calories when at rest as compared to women. Also, one’s women menstrual period ends, her body goes through changes. Getting obese is one the changes that her body goes through. This is the reason we find more obese women at 45 and beyond.
  

• Genetics or biological: It is quite normal that when a person has a family history of obesity, he would also turn out to be an obese. There is a maximum possibility that if you have an obese parent then you are also going to be an obese person. Genes do play a vital role in it.
  

• Activities as children: It was observed that our behavior as a child showed the symptom of turning into an obese. There are children who just love food and keep on eating them and are not involved in any of the physical activity. It’s then that the fat starts depositing in various areas of the body. Kids carry on with their childhood activities and turn out to be an obese. In America, obesity in children is growing at an alarming rate.
  

• Thyroid problem: Sometimes, under active thyroid glands are responsible in making a person obese. It happens as during this situation, your metabolism slows down and no matter what you eat, you would gain weight. It is better to get checked on a regular basis.
  

• Lifestyle: The modern lifestyle can be blamed behind the obesity. The modern amenities like elevator, car and others also contribute in making a person obese. These restrict the physical activities resulting in the increase of weight.
  

• Work, habit and time: Some people have only desk job whereas some don’t get time to eat properly. There are few who work for the longer hours due to which they don’t get enough time to do exercises.
  

• Family and friends influence: It was observed that those who have either family or friends who eat more of fast foods, unhealthy foods, skip meals or eat at irregular times; you would also develop that habit. Also, if they are not physically active, you would neither be.
  

• Emotional concern: Many a times, overeating is defined by the emotional state. It was observed that those who suffer from the emotional instability eat a lot to either get rid of the problem or to make them relaxed.
  

• Illness: Illness could also contribute in increasing weight. Either it could lead to some problem or could make you eat more than the required amount.
  

• Medication: There are certain medications which can be the reason behind obesity in you. This is important that one should ask about the effect of the side effects before taking the medicine.

Symptoms:

Like any other health problem, obesity also has certain symptoms. They can be divided into three parts; short term, long term and psychological.

Short term:

This means the problems a person may face during his day to day activities. This includes:

1) Increased sweat

2) Difficulty in sleeping

3) Breathlessness

4) Feeling fatigue everyday

5) Facing difficulties in doing the daily activity

6) Joint pain

7) Back pain

8) Snoring

Long term:

Obesity can gradually harms your body. Initially, these problems would go unnoticed but then slowly, they will start to show up. These could be:

1) Hypertension or high blood pressure

2) High level of cholesterol

3) Diabetic

4) Heart related problems

Psychological:

Obesity can have a negative effect in your mind. The following could be the symptoms of it:

1) Low level of confidence

2) Low level of self-esteem

3) Reduced mobility which can lead to poor quality of life

4) Poor self-image

5) Isolation from the friends and society

6) Depression

Treatment:

Before obesity starts troubling your health it is important that you treat it well. Following are the ways to get treated.

Diet:

Diet plays an important role when dealing with obesity. One should watch the amount and quality of food he/she is taking in. One should take healthy foods, rich in minerals and nutrients and are fat free. A healthy diet should contain green leafy vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy products, whole grain foods and all. One won’t be able to get rid of the problem if don’t follow the proper diet.

Also, the consumption of very low calorie diet is important. This diet means consuming less than 1000 calorie in a day. Apart from it, the person should also avoid fad diets. This means, a person should avoid going on fasting for the long hours. Meet a dietician and get a proper diet chart ready according to your age and weight.

Exercise:

Exercise is another way of losing those extra pounds. It is important that you exercise daily and get yourself involved in daily physical activities. These activities may include walking, jogging, going gym, playing games and all. The active person would find it easy to lose extra pounds and would feel fit and healthy.

Medications:

There are several sorts of anti obesity medicines available in the market. These medicines are safe and effective. You can meet the doctor and get a prescription of the one that would be good for you.

Surgery:

In some cases, where the above mentioned treatment can’t work, this does. Through surgery, you can remove those extra fats from your body. This should be conducted by the expert. There are different types of surgeries as in laparoscopic gastric banding, gastric bypass surgery and sleeve gastrectomy.

Prevention:

Prevention is always better than cure. It is important that you take care of your health and watch your lifestyle so that the chances of getting obesity can be controlled. All one has to do is eat healthy foods and exercise daily. These two things would prevent the deposition of those extra fats in your body thus allowing you to control your body weight.