Battling the Issue of Obesity - Essay Example

?Battling Obesity People’s lifestyles have a great effect on their health. Nowadays, life is made more convenient by technology and the accessibilityof basic needs. For example, instead of walking to the store to buy things, one can just call for delivery. Instead of cooking food from scratch, one can just buy “fast food” or heat up instant meals in the microwave oven. These lifestyle habits are likely to cause weight gain in people especially if they do not engage in physical activities. If not controlled, it can even lead to obesity. This essay will discuss Obesity as a growing health problem in the UK and worldwide. Obesity is defined as an excess of body fat and is measured by an estimate of the body mass index (BMI). A BMI over 25 kg/m2 is classified as overweight while a BMI ? 30 kg/m2 is classified as obesity with a strong correlation between greater BMI and mortality (Wadden et al 2002). Obesity is a major public health problem contributing to increased morbidity and mortality, with a significant increase in mortality from cardiovascular disease (Poston & Foreyt, 2000). Comorbidities associated with obesity include hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes (Donnelly et al 2000). The comorbidities associated with obesity contribute to increased health care utilization, increased health care expenditures, and lost productivity (Fontaine & Bartlett, 2000). Hence, obesity becomes a concern of government since it poses as an additional burden. Obesity has been linked to multiple health problems resulting in increased human suffering and health care costs (Abalkhail, 2002). According to statistics, being overweight and obesity itself, ranks as the fifth major cause of deaths globally leading to more than 2.8 million deaths annually amongst adults (WHO, 2011). Moreover, obesity is responsible for more than 23% of the ischaemic heart disease burden, 44% of the diabetes burden and amidst 7% to 41% of certain cancer burdens (WHO, 2011). There is a significant increase in mortality related to cardiovascular disease among obese persons (Poston & Foreyt, 2000). The lack of awareness amongst those who are just a little overweight leads to a consistent increase in obesity amongst them causing them to gain weight excessively overtime thus leading towards prolonged suffering for themselves as well as their families (WHO, 2006). Further to this is the fact that the overall costs for health care systems has risen alarmingly high causing even more strain for governments to meet these needs (WHO, 2006). Obesity has been identified as one of the most frustrating and difficult diseases to treat (Barlow & Dietz, 1998). Overweight individuals are prone to become obese if intervention strategies are not initiated and followed. Further, Holmes (1998) noted that “a strong argument can be made that many obese individuals are simply victims of their genetic and environmental settings” (p. 1). While environmental factors do influence obesity in the area of lifestyle and physical activity measures, there are also psychological issues. Some eat to cope with stressful situations. Some eat to re-experience positive emotions felt in remembered happy memories. Some use food to fill out feelings of emptiness in their lives. There is a need for health promotion efforts to help people modify lifestyle behaviors that contribute to obesity. Motivating people to modify lifestyle behaviors that contribute to morbidity and mortality is a key focus of health promotion (Glenz et al 1997). Health promotion emphasizes improving health as well as enabling people to increase control over their health (Glenz et al 1997). The expectation is that by giving people information about healthy behaviors they will make changes in behavior based on this information. Providing certain learning experiences is expected to facilitate "voluntary adaptations of behavior conducive to health" (Glenz et al. 1997, p. 7). Although instructional strategies to inform people of health risk behaviors and advice to change behaviors do work in some instances, motivating people to change behavior is a complex task and generally requires more than education and advice (Rollnick et al 1999). Peterson and Stunkard (1989) suggested that people cannot be manipulated into health nor can they always be expected to choose their actions based solely on information and moral exhortations. In discussing the breadth of Health Promotion research, Hinshaw et al (1999, p.xv) state that "more is known about the person and environmental elements that threaten or promote health than about how to influence human health behavior for sustained changes in health status" . Stimulating change in an individual's behavior in relation to their health is a primary focus of health care (Rollnick et al 1999). This involves a patient's acceptance of and adherence to treatment recommendations. According to Roter and Hall (1994) improving treatment adherence is based on the two general principles of education and motivation. Appropriate education ensures that the patient understands the treatment regimen and motivation provides encouragement for the patient to adhere to the treatment. A patient's level of motivation for changing behavior is a significant predictor of treatment outcome (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). A good health programme takes into account all dimensions of a person’s development. A holistic view includes the physical or how the body functions; mental or how the person thinks and makes judgments; social or how one maintains relationships; emotional or how a person manages his emotions and how he expresses it appropriately; societal or how a person relates to his society in terms of shelter, peace, food, income and his own contribution to society and finally, environmental or his physical environment which includes his housing, transport, sanitation, availability of clean water, pollution control (Ewles & Simnett, 2004). A health promotion should include health education and consider healthy public policy. Health education includes the communication of information concerning the underlying social, economic and environmental conditions impacting on health. Health education is about enabling – supporting people to set their own health agendas (French, 1990). The empowerment approach helps individuals make healthy choices by increasing their control over their physical, social and internal environments. According to Homans and Aggleton (1988), participatory learning techniques help people examine their own values and beliefs and explore the extent to which factors such as past socialization as well as social location affect the choices they make. Cynthia Bascetta, director of Health Care wrote, “The term “program strategy” refers to the issue to be addressed by the program, such as improving nutrition choices and eating habits or increasing physical activity. Components of the program that can affect its success are referred to as “program elements.” For example, conducting a needs assessment prior to implementation, using best practice or evidence-based programs, and conducting program evaluation are all considered program elements” (GAO, 2005, p.2). The World Health Organization launched the program Five A Day urging people to eat five servings of fruit and vegetables per day in recognition of the fact that a minimum of 400 g of fruits and vegetables is recommended per day to prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, as well as for the prevention and alleviation of several micronutrient deficiencies (WHO, 2011). Some may argue that the price of food may be rising, but those who are serious about being healthy should find alternative solutions such as planting their own vegetable garden. In relation to this, another program called Change4Life has been recruiting families to participate (Change4Life, 2011). Moving more by increasing physical activity and engaging in exercise helps in maintain a healthy weight. It is believed being overweight leads to body pains, sleeping problems, loss of energy and confidence in increased chances for illnesses such as heart diseases, diabetes and cancer. Some people may complain of not having enough time to follow the routines promoted by Change4Life, but they still need to insert exercise within their day, even in simple chores they do. Although obesity seems to be a difficult problem to overcome, it is not a hopeless case as long as one is determined to achieve good health. Willingness to make lifestyle changes such as eating healthier food and increasing physical activity to keep the body fit and healthy may be drastic moves, but these pay off in the long run in preventing Obesity and its accompanying complications. Not only will it benefit the individual concerned, but it will likewise ease the burden of the government in terms of provision of free medical assistance. If that is the case, then everybody wins. References Abalkhail, B. (2002). Overweight and obesity among Saudi Arabian children and adolescents between 1994 and 2000. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 8(4&5), 470-9. Barlow, S., & Dietz, W. (1998). Obesity evaluation and treatment: Expert committee recommendations. Pediatrics, 102(3). 1-11. Change4Life (2011)What is Change4Life, Retrieved on April 25, 2012 from http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/what-is-change-for-life.aspx Donnelly, J. E., Jacobsen, D. J., Heelan, K. S., Seip, R., & Smith, S. (2000). The Effects of 18 months of intermittent vs continuous exercise on aerobic capacity, body weight and composition, and metabolic fitness in previously sedentary, moderately obese females. International Journal of Obesity, 24,566-572. Ewles, L. & Simnett, I. (2004) Promoting Health - A Practical Guide.5th Edition. Bailliere Tindall, London. Glenz, K., Lewis, F., & Rimer, B. K. (1997). The scope of health promotion and health education. In K. Glenz, F. Lewis, & B. K. Rimer (Eds.) Health behavior and health education (pp. 3-17). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Hinshaw, A. S., Feetham, S. L., & Shaver, J. L. (1999). Handbook of clinical nursing research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Homans, H. and Aggleton, P. (1988) Health education about HIV infection and AIDS. in Aggleton and P. & Homans, H. (eds), Social Aspects of AIDS. Falmer Press, London Miller, W. R, & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for change (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. Peterson, C., & Stunkard, A. J. (1989). Personal control and health promotion. Social Science Medicine, 28, 819-828. Poston, W. C., & Foreyt, J. P. (2000). Successful management of the obese patient. American Family Physician, 61, 3615-22. Rollnick, S., Mason, P., & Butler, C. (1999). Health behavior change: A guide for practitioners. London, UK: Churchill Livingstone. Roter, D. L., & Hall, J. A (1994). Strategies for enhancing patient adherence to medical recommendations. Journal of the American Medical Association, 27(1),80. Wadden, T. A, Brownell, K. D., & Foster, G. D. (2002). Obesity: Responding to the global epidemic. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 510-525. WHO (2011) Promoting fruit and vegetable consumption around the world, Retrieved on April 25, 2011 from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/fruit/en/index.html Read More