An analysis of obesity - Essay Example

Obesity Obesity Introduction Using the nonprofessional’s language, the society uses the term obesity to describe overweight individuals but medically, obesity refers to a condition associated with excess body fat. The body mass index (BMI) is a measure that determines whether a person is obese. The World Health Organisation deems individuals with a BMI of between 35 to 40 Kg/ m2 to have severe obesity while those with 40 to 44.9 kg/m2 have morbid obesity. As per the perspective of health experts, individuals with a BMI of 45 – 50 kg/m2 are under the category of super obesity (Rossen and Rossen, 2012, p.10). Growing cases of the increasing rate of obese individuals in the United Kingdom continues to raise concerns in health matters. Obesity reduces the ability of individuals to perform diverse roles within the society. Causes of Obesity Calories Obesity results from an increase in the intake of calories than the individual can burn off by engaging in physical activity. In the modern day, lifestyles promote the consumption of food with calories more so the ones that have excessive fats as well as sugar (Egger & Swinburn, 2010, 110). For instance, the working population loves eating take away foods mainly, fries, hamburger and milkshake. The fast food average a total of about 1,500 calories in a single meal yet an average person requires 2,000 to 2,500 calories to maintain a normal weight (Lustig, 2011, p.54). Biologically, the body of an individual who consumes products with excess calories tends to store the excess energy as fat. Lack of Physical Activity The situation worsens because most of the individuals spend a lot of time sitting on sofas or at desks in the work place. Rarely do people with excess body fats walk or engage in cycling to exercise the body because of the overreliance on cars. Obese people always have the desire to relax the body (Freedman, 2009, p.7). It is a lot more likely to find obese individuals watching television or browsing on the internet than going to the gym. Obese children are no exception as many are the cases where parents drive and pick up such children to school (Bouchard, 2000, p. 331). The children have negative attitude towards engaging in tiring exercises and would rather play computer games. Poor Diets There is no doubt that obesity occurs through a gradual process. Many families have poor diets comprising of either beer, which has a lot of calories or sugary drinks as part the meal. As a result, parents pass on the habit of bad eating to children who grow with the indiscipline into adulthood. In the United Kingdom, health analysts estimate that obesity affects one in every four adults and one child in every five with 10 to 11 years of age (Meana & Ricciardi, 2008, p.141). In addition, influence exists on the eating habits. Children may get the incentive to eat too much if the parents or friends do so. For individuals with low self-esteem, excessive eating may be a factor that reduces the feeling of depression. Medical Reasons Certain health conditions can contribute to weight gain that ultimately results into obesity. A rare disorder named Cushing’s syndrome is one among the conditions that leads to an individual gaining weight (Birmingham and Treasure, 2010, p. 195). The syndrome causes an excess production of steroid hormones within the body. Another instance that causes obesity through under production of hormones by virtue of an less active thyroid gland is hypothyroidism (Stettler and Shelly, 18). Women in the childbearing age are at greater risk of becoming obese if affected by polycystic ovarian syndrome due to an increase in the level of androgen hormones (Mahmood & Arulkumaran, 2013, p.525). Some medicine for instance antidepressants and corticosteroids may not only interfere with the body’s rate of burning calories but may also increase the appetite of an individual thereby promoting weight gain. Genetics Genetics refer to the heredity of physical and behavioural characteristics by children from parents. Prader –Willi syndrome is an example of a rare genetic defect that causes obesity. Genes have an effect on both the amount of fat and the likely area where the excess fat will settle (Lustig, 2011, p.63). A strong relationship exists between development of a child’s genes related to obesity and the environment. Children may inherit certain generic traits like a large appetite. Families share meals and influence the children concerning physical habits. Essentially, a child has higher chances of becoming obese if parents eat foods with high calories and are in active in nature (Rossen and Rossen, 2012, p. 21). Muscles loss occurs as the child continues to grow thereby slowing the rate of burning calories. Barriers to Participating in Physical Activities Stigma from the Society The society perceives obese people as a disgrace to the community. This particularly makes the obese individuals to lose confidence in themselves. At schools, many are the instances where children will bully or tease their overweight peers. Obese parents also have low self-esteem because of the negative treatment from the society that makes it hard to engage in physical activities like taking part in the gymnasium (Healey and Lesneski, 2011, p.71). Overweight people feel as if the community does not care about them. If anything, community members tend to distance themselves with the affairs of the obese individuals. If the society showed an appreciation of the obese people, their self-esteem would go up thus acting as an incentive to engage in physical activity (Seeman and Luciani, 2011, p. 7). Negative Attitude Participation in physical activity is low given the excess weight that obese individuals have. Ideally, many of the overweight individuals have a negative attitude towards working out. Such people do not want to get tired, which is what happens when engaging in extensive physical activity for instance running. In the perspective of overweight individuals, the best option is to take diet programmes in an effort to cut the weight gain (Ferry, 2011, p.132). The diet mainly incorporates vegetables and fruits for a healthy living. Diet programs are not effective for all overweight individuals. This means that very few among the obese individuals will cut the extra weight as required through the programme. Others find it challenging to leave on the vegetable and fruit diet and end up going back to foods with calories. Lifestyle Individuals who are well off in the society are usually the people who suffer from obesity. The lifestyle of such wealthy individuals revolves around the driving to the job area, working long hours and then driving back home. Therefore, it is challenging to devote time in physical activity. Overweight individuals prefer private than public transportation concerning United Kingdom (Tulchinsky and Varavikova, 2014, p.119). If the lifestyle were different, physical activity would be a day-to-day activity, as overweight people would trek routinely to the bus stop. Mostly, overweight individuals remain discouraged by physical activities like cycling because their weight cannot allow them to ride on the bicycle. The work places also do not offer showering facilities that would enable obese individuals to walk to work and change after a shower on arrival. Lack of Support from Family and Government Where obesity is genetic, children tend to look up to the parents for guidance on how to go about the condition. In the event that parents ignore participation in physical activity, the obese children will lack a role model to influence the participation in physical activity. Most parents are irresponsible even in a scenario where the parents are not obese but a child happens to be overweight. The parents tend to distance themselves and let the child to make the decision on the best way of dealing with the condition (Sassi, 2010, p.166). If the government-increased efforts of awareness that obesity is challenge that the society should strive to reduce and initiate programs on the same, overweight individuals would be more willing to participate in physical activity (Institute Of Medicine and Glickman, 2012, p. 148). Effects of Policies and Practices on Obesity Public Policy Public policy is one of the tools that the government is trying to improve on in order to make physical activity a daily part of life. Active transport comprising of wider sidewalks and longer bike lanes will increase physical activity among the population. The government is increasing the number of friendly environments such as parks for physical exercise and playgrounds that are appealing to children whether obese or not. This is a long-term strategy set to deal with the rising cases of obesity (Egger & Swinburn, 2010, p. 116). Further Initiatives by the government have seen an increase in the sporting activities carried out in schools. Consequently, children will engage in physical activities that encourage exercise and healthy living. Relevant authorities are encouraging people to consumer foods with less cholesterol content. Practices of Physical Activity Practices of physical activity are detrimental to a healthy living. Obesity is arguably one of the leading causes of death for the current generation. Physical activities have effects based on age, gender and ethnic groups (Fortin, 2013). On the age factor, children from 1 to 4 year become physically active by crawling pulling and pushing activities. Children aged between 5 and 18 build healthy bones and strong muscles if engaged in physical activity like bicycle riding (Freedman, 2009, p.44). Adults of between 20 to 64 years become proactive especially with their bodies for instance proper functioning of the heart and lungs, loss of excess fat and reduced depression. For older adults, physical activities reduce diseases related to obesity. When it comes to gender men, engage more in muscle strengthening activities than women. Nonetheless, both men and women take part in aerobic activities as such activities promote blood flow and flexibility. Physical activities under aerobics are important in enhancing proper functioning of internal organs. This is a clear indication of healthy living as diseases like diabetes, coronary heart disease and breast cancer just to name a few are attributable to obesity (Delgado,2013, p.28) (Dunn, 2013, p. 230). Women do not need extensive physical activity as it may affect the reproductive system and the ability to perform domestic chores diversely. Ethnicity has no influence on body exercise even though the majority groups in the United Kingdom are more prone to physical activity. The government is taking steps to encourage participation of ethnic minority amidst sociological debate. Types of Physical Activity As earlier pointed out, aerobics and muscle – strengthening activities are the most prominent forms of physical activity. Anaerobic activities can either be moderate or vigorous. Moderate activities involve less effort and one can talk in the process but vigorous activities are quite involving. Cycling, jogging, dancing and climbing a staircase are examples of moderate aerobic activities. On the other hand, swimming and tennis are examples of vigorous aerobic activities (Kazaks & Stern, 2013, p.133). Muscle-strengthening activities is a category that focuses on building stronger muscles for instance lifting weight, push ups and walking up a hill. The essential beneficial aspects of the mentioned activities are that different body parts play a role in the exercise. Bone-strengthening activities just as the name suggest, place prioritize on building strong bones. Activities under the bone strengthening activities include jumping. The category is mostly important in the adolescents’ stage of growth because that is the point where bone growth takes place. The last category of physical activity is the balance and stretching activities that encourages physical stability through yoga, stretching and martial arts (Crawford, 2010, p.122). People who are not physically active are more prone to health defects such as strokes and high blood pressure. The major reason for working out is that a lot of calories get burned. Health experts argued that an increase in age lowers the rate of metabolism. As a result, an increase in age necessitates activity that is more physical and less consumption of foods to maintain an energy balance. Controlling Obesity It is true that physical activities are critical to losing weight. Additional measures need to work hand in hand with physical activity to assist in reducing obesity. To begin with, individuals should change the eating habits and adapt healthy diets that have fewer calories. Controlling the appetite for food by ensuring that a person does not eat in excess is another factor (Bogart, 2013, p.74). Changing diet would be vital taking for instance white meat because of its low fat content than red me and drinking water often goes a long way in reducing body weight (Gaesser and Blair, 2002, p.29). Although it is rare, excess obesity may call for a weight loss or bariatric surgery if so advised by doctors (Meana and Ricciardi, 2008, p.232) (Thompson and Ryan, 2013, p. 8). In the event that the change in lifestyle does not work, health specialists may recommend or list medications that reduce absorption of fat by the body. Conclusion In conclusion, it is imperative to affirm that the obesity is a major problem in UK and around the world. The major cause of obesity is the digestion of food with excessive calories coupled with the failure of the individual to engage in physical activity. Among the factors that hinder overweight people from engaging in physical activity, include stigmatization from the members of the society and negative attitudes towards the physical activity. 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