Over weight and obesity is a global health concern. Overweight and obesity have so many causes. Some of them are listed below.
1 Overweight and Obesity occurs when energy intake energy expenditure
There are many conditions that will influence the amount of energy your body needs. Physical activity, age, pregnancy and sex are all factors that will influence the amount of energy intake. Our body converts the proteins and carbohydrates we need into energy to be used by the body.
Our body uses the energy we get from food in three main ways:
- Processes which use energy to digest and absorb food.
- Basal metabolism which uses energy to maintain vital body processes
- Exercise and physical activity
We have total control over exercise and physical activity. This therefore means that to avoid being overweight we have to control our eating habits and increase the number of times we do physical activity and exercise.
2 Sedentary lifestyle
This refers to people who only eat and stay on one spot. They may sometimes be referred to as couch potatoes. Research has shown that people spend at least two hours a day watching TV.
Furthermore, the use of cars, taxis, bikes and elevators has made some people so lazy that they don’t get involved in physical activity.
3 Our culture and environment
Our culture and environment play a great role in overweight and obesity. It takes will power for someone to be normal in this generation. Even when you are trying to avoid certain foods that contribute to overweight, it is being displayed right in front of our faces. Some people also complain that healthy foods like vegetables cost more than fast foods so they don’t have a choice but to consume unhealthy foods. We also have certain foods that are unhealthy but we still cling to them because it is our or tradition culture to eat them.
4 Medication
Some medications we take have weight gain as a side effect. An example of such a medication is some corticosteroids.
5 Pregnancy
During pregnancy, women eat more than they normally eat to support themselves and the growing baby. After giving birth, some of these women do nothing to get rid of the excess weight they had as a result of pregnancy. They need to engage in physical exercise get their weight to what it was before pregnancy. If this is not done overweight and obesity may result.
6 Stress, emotional problems and idleness
Some people tend to eat when they are stressed up or faced with emotional problems while others tend to avoid food when in the same situation. Likewise some people eat a lot when they are idle. This is common to students on holidays or parents and workers who are off duty, on leave or on vacation. This overeating may lead to weight gain and if it is in excess it may cause overweight.
7 Genes and Family history
Studies have showed that being fat and overweight runs in people’s families. It is commonly said to men and women that if they want to know whether their spouse will be fat in the future, they should look at the size of all the family members and if majority of them are fat, it means he/she too may likely become fat in the future.
Resources
No comments:
Post a Comment