The Levels of Obesity in the USA - Coursework Example

Obesity in America Obesity in America! How changes in eating habits in particular, as well other lifestyle changes in general, brought on by Globalization and Westernization are affecting the levels of Obesity in the USA. Introduction A disorder of energy balance, where the number of calories that are consumed are far way higher than the ones expended is known as obesity. It is the condition of having excess amount of body. It occurs when the susceptible individuals are heavily exposed to the obesity-promoting surroundings. This condition, especially in the United States of America, has increased among the individuals to a point where it is perceived as a normal condition. Strictly speaking, obesity is today not only prevalent in the United States of America. but the whole world and is being regarded as a global epidemic. Most people find it hard differentiating between just being overweight and being obese. The National Institute of Health (NIH) defines the term overweight as ‘body weight that is at least 10 percent over the recommended weight for a certain individual.’ The body weight that is recommended is generated by basing on the body mass index (BMI) or the population of the United States of America. In this calculation, there is the assessment of body weight to body height. Therefore on this basis, the term overweight means someone with a BMI that is greater than 25 (Libonati, 2001). There are various causes of obesity that vary from place to place or on people’s culture. Most of these factors are lifestyle-based and are the main ones that are responsible for most obesity cases in the United States of America. Other causes may be combinations of metabolic, hormonal and metabolic factors that play great roles in strengthening this epidemic. However it is hard to clearly point out specific causes of obesity. In United States of America, over the last almost 42 years, there has been an increase in obesity by 50%. But with huge expansion of the epidemic, people are increasingly developing obesity in the recent years. The main factor to be blamed in this case is people’s lifestyles. Modern lifestyles in this case refer to lack of adequate physical activity, eating habits, modern forms of recreation, people’s environment, medicines, smoking, inadequate sleep, emotional factors, health conditions among others. Inadequate physical activities in a person’s body tend to increase the amount of accumulate body fatty acids. This is because of their reduced combustion and oxidation, hence accelerating the condition of becoming fat and eventually obese. Reduced body work is further enhanced by the nature of work and jobs people are undertaking today. Research by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics evaluates that there is a great relationship between obesity and the physical activity in the work place. It further asserts that in 1960s, almost a half of the private sector employment required at least a moderate physical work. In the year 2010, 15% of this only required physical work. Reduced physical work in the workplaces is influenced by America’s increased advances technologically in agriculture and processing industries (Courtemanche, 2008). Another factor contributing to this is the issue of modern recreation. America is a country which has improved drastically in the field of modern recreation. Americans who spent most of their time working in less physically active environments need to use their leisure time doing a lot of exercises so as to counterbalance. Unfortunately, most of them use most of this time sitting in the parks, walking for short distances, watching movies and TV, among others. The American Cancer Society (ACS) conducted a study that showed that from around 120,000 adult citizens of an average age of 64 that were used in the study, it was realized that sitting for longer hours is very hazardous to one’s health. It outlined that people who spent most of their time sitting have a 16% higher risk of death than their peers who spent of their time moving around. Most of the deaths caused are linked on cardiovascular infections that are also associated with obesity. (Jordan, 2008) A share for the causes of obesity has also to be granted to modern eating lifestyles as a factor. It is majorly to blame especially for obesity in teenagers and children in the United States of America. Most people feed on high calorie foods that can’t be burnt easily by their less physical activities. If you check lunch packs of most school-going teenagers, you will be surprised to find the whole pack with fast foods, and after that they are dropped at school by their parents. Parents also do the same with an increasing number of food companies emerging. The environment has also been known to accelerate obesity. It does not support it. In fact, in America, there are inadequate or no sidewalks and enough places for recreation. Lack of enough trails, area parks, gyms which are affordable makes it hard for individuals to be active physically. At our homes, parents do not encourage their children by examples. They themselves fail to consider healthy living and their children copy (Heinberg, 2009) Another key factor being focused on is the types of medicines people use. There are certain kinds which cause people to gain weight and they include seizure medicines, corticosteroids and antidepressants. These medicines are known by medics to be responsible for increasing a person’s appetite, holding on too much water, and reducing the oxidation of body calories. All these tend to increase the condition of overweight and obesity. Most cigarette companies have been detesting that smoking doesn’t encourage obesity. In real sense, a close observation of heavy smokers reveals that they end up overweight after they stop smoking. This is due to the fact that food tends to smell good after one has quit smoking. People therefore end up eating too much. Excess food makes it hard for the body to burn all those calories hence developing the overweight nature and thus overweight (Heinberg, 2009). Teenagers and young children in the United States of America spend most of their time watching movies, TV or playing computer games. This goes on till late hours of the night and in some cases spend the whole night without sleeping just watching. Such like people therefore deprive themselves of adequate sleep. Inadequate sleep increases the hormonal imbalance that makes the patient feel hungry or full. Feeling hungry is as a result of the hormone ghrelin whose level goes up in inadequate sleep cases. Leptin causes one feel full and tends to drop in such inadequate sleep cases. Lack of sleep also has an effect on how the body reacts to insulin which controls body sugar level. Inadequate sleep increases the body sugar level thus increasing the diabetes risk (Eric & Finkelstein, 2010). There are consequences that are mostly associated with obesity. They have been accelerated by the idea of too much westernization and globalization in America. This has brought with it lifestyles that are highly regarded as main causes of obesity. Most people have embraced these lifestyles but at the end they wind up with these people’s lives (Akabas, 2012). Consequences of being obese and overweight can be split into various sub divisions. The subdivisions are the physiological effects, the social effects, the physical effects and the social effects. To start with, the physical effects are the main ones. They are mainly ailment related and if not controlled properly may lead to death. Cardiovascular diseases are the infections of the delicate organ in the body, the heart. They cause clogging up of the blood vessels and accumulation of fat around the heart. This affects the way the heart works, thus eventually causing death. An array of cancers such as the cancer of the colon may find their way developing. (Blass, 2008) Other physical consequences in this case are risk of high blood pressure, diabetes type 2, strokes, having an experience of fertility problems, non-alcoholic fatty liver infection, among many others. All of the named infections except fertility disorders are very deadly and can cost individuals and the country much time and money treating them. Moreover, obesity can reduce the life expectancy of one up to 8 years. Also, obese women have a higher risk of pregnancy lose than their healthy weight peers. Psychological consequences are in the category also. Studies have had it that obese people experience inadequate body satisfaction, anxiety, low self-esteem and depression. Such like people have the sense of alienation and tend to be psychologically tortured having a sense of not being normal. They are always satisfied and tend to not accept themselves. They don’t want to be recognized by people and hence keeping that low quality life. (James, 2008) There is also this is issue of social problems with obese and overweight people. This is due to the fact that these individuals tend to experience some sort of social prejudice at some point in their life. They also tend to have fewer friends and further, studies have revealed that they mostly have lower educational attainment. Their employment chances and ability is low as well as tendency of having fewer opportunities in life. (Libonati, 201) Obesity treatment is very costly to most families. The money and time that is supposed to be spent on other productive activities is spent on the obese patients. This affects the family’s economic status and that of the country as most funds are spend on awareness creation, treatment and other activities aimed at reducing obesity. It leads to death thus depriving a country of its required manpower and most families’ breadwinners. Conclusion The consequences of obesity are costly and chronic; their control is hard to various nations including the United States of America. Plans need to be put in place the government of the United States to ensure that obesity does not win. The people have to be taught on best ways of living so as they change their lifestyles. Parents need to teach their parents on the best ways of maintaining a healthy life. Bibliography Blass, E. M. (2008). Obesity: causes, mechanisms, prevention, and treatment. Sunderland,Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates. Courtemanche, C. J. (2008). Essays on the Economic Causes of Obesity. Michigan: ProQuest,. Eric A. and Finkelstein, L. Z. (2010). The Fattening of America: How The Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What To Do About It. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. James, J. C. (2008). Handbook of Obesity Intervention for the Lifespan. New York: Springer. Jordan, A. B. (2008). Overweight and Obesity in America’s Children: Causes, Consequences, Solutions. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Leslie J. Heinberg, J. K. (2009). Obesity in youth: causes, consequences, and cures. Washington: American Psychological Association. Libonati, J. P. (2001). What State Do You Live In?: The Consequences of Obesity. Bloomington: AuthorHouse. Sharon Akabas, S. A. (2012). Textbook of Obesity: Biological, Psychological and Cultural Influences. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More