Obesity – An Overview
Obesity refers to an excessive amount of body fat that causes health issues. Most experts consider a rate of about 30% to be a sustainable number of obese people. Obesity is caused by several factors including genetics, environment, and lifestyle choices. Therefore, the obese have to make changes to reduce the number of unhealthy individuals. In addition, obesity can be reduced by decreasing food production and consumption, expanding health services and health education, and reducing sedentary lifestyles.
How to Determine If You Have Obesity Symptoms?
BMI or body mass index is the physical way to determine if a person falls into an obese category. Measuring your BMI is quite easy which can be done using a simple formula, i.e., divide your body weight measured in kilograms by your measured height in meters squared. The result will immediately tell you if you are obese.
Being Underweight - A BMI score below 18.5 is considered as being underweight.
Healthy BMI – A BMI between 18.5 to 24.9 is considered as normal.
Being Overweight – With a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 is actually being overweight.
Being Obese - Any BMI value above 30.0 calls warrants immediate medical attention as it lands you into the obese category.
When Is the Need to See a Doctor?
Obese individuals are at greater risk for several health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, arthritis and other musculoskeletal issues as well as orthopedic problems such as slipped capital femoral artery (SCA).
Obese people have a higher risk of developing various health conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They tend to have a higher risk of developing sleep apnea which causes frequent breathing problems while sleeping.
Obese people are also at greater risk of developing certain types of cancers such as breast cancer and colon cancer- which are primarily caused by weight gain in excess skin cells and inflammatory cells in the gut- liver, breasts, colon and other internal organs.
If you have any major symptoms due to obesity, see a doctor immediately.
What Are the Causes of Obesity
Various factors contribute to obesity- including genetics, environment, and lifestyle choices. For example, obese people are more likely to have obese parents. Similarly, unhealthy eating habits and insufficient exercise contribute to excessive body weight. In addition, sleep disorders and sedentary lifestyles also contribute to an increase in obesity numbers. Therefore, it's important to encourage healthy behaviors in addition to restricting unhealthy ones for sustainable results. Obesity is caused by an excessive amount of body fat that causes health issues. An obesity rate of about 30%- 40% is considered a sustainable rate. Obesity rates have risen in the past few decades as more and more people have access to high-quality foods and lack physical activity guidelines. Consequently, encouraging healthy behaviors has led to an increase in obesity numbers. If more unhealthy individuals stop eating too much and moving too little, the rate of obesity could drop. However, there is debate about how effective this strategy is at reducing the number of obese people.
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The number of obese individuals has increased over the past few decades due to an increase in food availability, lack of physical activity guidelines and unhealthy eating habits. Therefore, it's important to encourage healthy behaviors for sustainable results. However, obese people tend to make changes for themselves, which leads to an increase in obesity numbers. Until there's drastic action taken by the general public, including encouraging healthy behaviors; there's not much that government agencies or non-profit organizations can do about reducing the number of obese people. For any major symptoms, you can immediately refer to 1Health medical services for getting good health advice as well as treatment, if required in your condition.