Sedentary Lifestyle Affects Identity - Essay Example

Jane Jones Jim Smith English 105 26 November Sedentary Lifestyle Affects Identity The sedentary lifestyle has received much attentionover the last three decades and there is even a word to describe the inactive person, a “couch potato”. Experts have all weighed in and published many books and articles to warn the populace just how damaging such a life actually is and how it could change the person’s identity. On US television, there are at least five syndicated health shows on every day and there are even entire networks dedicated to the subject. By this time, everybody should know the health effects of inactivity, almost as damaging to the mammal body as cigarette smoking and pets are just as susceptible. The earth is definitely getting heavier because obesity is an epidemic in the developed countries. New cases of adult onset Diabetes (also known as Type II Diabetes) are growing at an astronomical rate in the West, where 350 million people now have the disease and more than three million people succumb annually. Shockingly enough, more children are getting this version of Diabetes, which at one time was extremely rare in those under eighteen. In addition, coronary disease (heart attacks) and hypertension evolving into debilitating or fatal strokes are more common in the immobile person. Many works have blamed the sedentary lifestyle on the technology age and it is true that many more people hold an office-type job in 2012 then the populace did in the 1960’s. However, the average Western adult only works forty hours a week, less than 25% of the 168-hour week. The other seventy-two hours (after subtracting fifty-six hours for sleep) lead to sedentary trouble. The kid playing video games for hours on end, the family watching the latest DVD, adults and kids alike glued to the home computer shopping and catching up on Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all inactivity red flags that identity change is eminent. . To multiply the problem, a myriad of unhealthy food choices are available, potato chips, burritos, cookies among others, with more items invented all the time. Diet and exercise are the two solutions to inactivity. Healthy, home-cooked meals with less eating out, especially at fast food restaurants, can make a vast difference in a person’s weight and health, and feelings of identity. Instead of dad and son watching football all Sunday afternoon, they could go out in the backyard and have a game of catch. The whole family could go for a brisk walk in the park and rather than driving around the mall trying to grab a parking space near the entrance, it would be much better to park in the nether regions and walk to the door. Gardening, housework, walking the dog (it needs the workout also) and even sex are wonderful everyday devices in which one would get exercise. Is it raining? The inactive person could try walking up and down the stairs a few times. New York Times correspondent Michael Pollan has written several tongue-in-cheek books on the subject of food, most notably The Omnivores Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan stresses that he essentially agrees with the Government in their assessment that junk food and other processed foods are not good for the human body. He also acknowledges that so-called “organic” food is not that anymore, what started out as a good idea quickly turned no better than non-organic foodstuffs. In addition, modern transportation and storage methods, bringing regional foods such as Cajun nationwide, are not necessarily for the betterment of humankind. While recommending more plant matter, he stresses that humans should become a society of hunter-gatherers, as they were less than 150 years ago. Pollan in the chapter “The consumer a republic of fat” speaks explicitly on the sedentary lifestyle and oddly enough blames it partly on the glut of corn produced in North America. Americans don’t each that much corn so the excess resulted in the massive alcohol manufacturing in the 1800’s, which is still being used today (Pollan). Also high fructose corn syrup, which has largely supplanted sugar in junk food and carbonated sodas, is a new use for corn, along with the corn-fed beef cattle. They likewise undergo a sedentary lifestyle as their growth process results in the animals being ready for slaughter in one-fourth of the time it used to take. In addition, such “innovative” people as David Wallerstein can take the blame for the identity change of sedentary lifestyle. While working for movie theaters in the 1960’s, and realizing snacks were the real profits, he revolutionized the idea of huge popcorn buckets and giant sodas. Transferring to McDonald’s, Wallerstein convinced founder Ray Kroc to develop the “supersize it” format which carries through to present day. This is a practice also adopted by the convenience store. Now that this paper has defined a sedentary lifestyle and recommended changes, does such a life choice change the person’s identity? There is little question that physical exercise dramatically decreases symptoms of depression so it makes sense that inactivity increases depression. First, sedentary choices increase obesity among children and leads to their inability to participate in childhood play and sports. This makes them the targets of teasing and bullying. Depression sets in and forms a vicious cycle in which the child reverts further into food and inactivity. Surprisingly though, prepubescent obese boys are more apt to suffer depression than the girls tend to be. Suicide rates are higher among sedentary children and they tend to be sicklier than their more active counterparts are. A study published in 2003 (Lawson) said, "Obese children reported scores [on a quality of life survey] that were as bad as cancer patients in each and every domain of life". The identity problem only worsens as the inactive, obese child passes through puberty. One thing is the health challenges associated with puberty, with the obvious cardiovascular and diabetes risks. At a time when hormone production is at its largest, the battles within the sedentary person cause lack of sleep, especially since the pancreas is busy producing insulin. Girls have started becoming pubescent ever earlier, some as young as seven. Early puberty in young women is associated with instance of later cancers of the reproductive system and breasts (Daily Mail). Conversely, obese boys’ bodies develop much later than do their peers. For the boys image is everything and the higher-pitched voices and obvious bodily differences make them further objects of ridicule. Girls and boys alike will find it difficult to develop relationships with the opposite sex so their depression will only worsen and further their identity crisis. Again, suicide is prevalent among inactive, obese teenagers and they are more apt to participate in unacceptable behavior such as smoking, alcohol abuse, criminal activity and illicit sex (especially girls, who “put out” to be more popular). Obese and inactive children and teenagers are more than twice as likely to stay the same as an adult. However, loss of employment financial status or romance can result in depression and bring the onset of inactivity. Likewise, contentment with one’s life could also cause the adult to become sedentary along with loss of identity. Whichever way it happens, the inactive adult suffers the same identity crises as children. In the 1969 song “In the Year 2525” Zager and Evans sang Your arms hangin limp at your sides Your legs got nothin to do Some machines doin that for you. That is true in the year 2012, motionless adults can very well become atrophied, a condition where shrinking and weakening of the muscles occurs. Future and current relationships suffer and sedentary adults of both sexes are more likely to suffer from some form of sexual abnormality, such as erectile dysfunction. Inactive men are 50% more likely to develop ED (Janiszewski). Depression and feelings of despair and hopelessness are prevalent in adults, along with loss of identity. This is particularly evident in the senior adult, for retirement, the aging process, lack of money, and loss of one’s spouse can result in the exacerbation of a sedentary lifestyle. Sometimes older people sit in their houses for days or weeks at a time, often without interacting with another person. This creates a terrible circle where the elderly become even more depressed; and depression in of itself usually results in deadly consequences if the person’s despair is not treated. In conclusion, sadly the sedentary lifestyle can rob a person of his or her quality of life, his identity and eventually of life itself. The choice is a self-breeding cycle of more inactivity and even more depression. Yet the good news is that if the person is determined and/or receives proper medical treatment most of the signs and symptoms of the lifestyle could actually be stopped, or even reversed. It is even possible to halt the effects of most forms of diabetes. WORKS CITED Daily Mail, “How childhood obesity brings forward puberty and could harm a womans baby chances”, Web, November 26, 2012, < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2183087/How-childhood-obesity-brings-forward-puberty-harms-womans-baby-chances.html >. Janiszewski, Peter, PhD, “Sedentary lifestyle and excess belly fat increase erectile dysfunction risk, Web, November 26, 2012, < http://www.obesitypanacea.com/2009/05/sedentary-lifestyle-and-excess-belly.html>. Lawson, Willow, “The Obesity-Depression Link”, Web, November 26, 2012, < http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200305/the-obesity-depression-link>. Pollan, Michael, The Omnivores Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals, Web, November 26, 2012, < http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/omnivores.php#.ULQzioZc-So>, Read More