HEALTH: What is Obesity?
September 26, 2008 – 2:45 pm
Obesity is a kind of illness when excessive amount of fat accumulate in the body. It is also known as overweight. However, obesity is not just related with weight. Obesity is some kind of illness that should be treated.
When is it called obesity? Are you obesity or are you overweight? Keep that in mind obesity occurs when your body can not consume the energy that you take from foods. If a great amount of energy accumulates in the body, problems begin. It is related with metabolism and physical activities.
Causes of Obesity
Excessive calorie consumption and not consuming these calories are said to be the major reason of obesity. Diet is an important factor. Human being needs energy to live. However, if s/he takes more than s/he needs and does not spend it, the energy accumulates and problems begin. There are three main food sources. These are protein, carbohydrate and fat. If you take more from these sources, they are conserved in the body. The fat is accumulated more and it leads to obesity.
The energy is spent via metabolic activities and physical activities. Metabolic activities are the ones that our body does without any effort. For instance, our heart beats, digestion system works, all these are metabolic activities. Physical activities are different from metabolic ones. Physical activities are the ones that we do through all the day. Walking, running, sitting, biking, all of them are classified as physical activities. All these ones make our body spend energy. If you do not move much, you do not spend much energy. How much metabolic and physical activity there is, more energy is spent. If there is imbalance between your energy income and the one you spent, obesity shows itself.
Genetics is another cause of obesity. If your family experience obesity problem, you are bound to experience it, too. In addition to this, environmental factors also cause obesity. Social circumstances, life style, eating habits and personal habits cause obesity problem.
Treatment Ways of Obesity
There are four main obesity treatment ways. These are surgical treatment, diet, medicine treatment and exercise. According to the severeness of the problem, treatment way changes. Surgical treatment is the last way of obesity treatment. If diet, exercise and medicine treatment do not respond, surgical one is necessary. With surgical way, a long lasting solution of obesity is provided. You can lose %50-80 of total weight after surgical treatment. However it is a very serious operation and it is not suitable for everyone.
Medicine treatment is a common obesity treatment way. There are many medicine types claiming to make you lose weight. But these generally have side effects. So the medicine should be taken under the control of a doctor. Balanced diet and regular exercise should be a part of our daily lives. These are obesity treatment ways. For diet treatment way, the total calorie intake and the calorie you take are calculated. Generally a diet list consisting healthy food is given to the patient. If the patient leads the diet and suggestions of the doctor, obesity problem can be solved. Exercise is a way of life. It helps you to spend calorie and it is one of the way preventing obesity.
Effects of Obesity
Researchers show that obesity affects our life more and more. It is like a communicable disease. Woman and man, young and old, everybody is under the risk of obesity. Obesity is a disease that affects the entire life of people. First of all, it affects heart and vascular system. It also affects digestive system, respiratory system and hormones. It is the main reason of many major diseases. Some of the illnesses that obesity based are heart related ones, high tension, barrenness, cancer types and joint related diseases. Briefly, obesity is the disorder making your life worse and short.