Living a healthy life is vital to feel good and stay happy. That’s why you must take care of your body and provide it with all the nutrition it needs. We want to say that along with the healthy food intake; you also have to keep the junk out of your body. You have to be mindful of what you consume and how it impacts your body. If your BMI is 30 or higher, then the chances are that you are obese. Obesity can pose a lot of problems for your health – both mentally and physically. Obese people run at the risk of several health problems, including heart-related issues, blood pressure, diabetes, and many more. Obesity can also cause problems affecting your brain, gallbladder, and liver. Nearly 40% of the US population falls under the obese category. India is somewhat going in the same direction. Here are the different health risks you might run into if you’re obese:
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Diabetes
Diabetes is probably the most common health issue with obese people. People with obesity are at an extremely high risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. In this condition, the person’s blood glucose level remains consistently high. This type of diabetes is also called adult-onset diabetes or insulin-resistant diabetes. In this case, there is a lot of nutrients for the fat tissues to process. It leads to excess stress on the cells and causes inflammation. The inflammation releases a protein called cytokines, which blocks the insulin receptors from receiving any signal. It leads to the cells becoming insulin-resistant. Thus, your body is no longer able to convert glucose into energy. Hence, your body will have consistently high blood glucose. This stress on the cells, which causes inflammation in the cells, can also lead to heart diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke, impotence, amputations, etc.
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Hypertension
As you are prone to high blood pressure, it may lead to hypertension as well. Hypertension occurs when the force of blood on the artery walls is too high. Since an obese person has fairly more body fat, they need more blood pumped through the body. It causes the blood to inflict pressure on the artery walls. Obesity and excess body weight cause about 26% of hypertension cases among men, whereas 28% are among women. The more amount of fatty tissues in the body require more pressure to pump blood across. It causes tension as the load is increased on the artery walls. Hypertension is of two types: Primary or essential hypertension and Secondary hypertension. Most people have the former rather than the latter. Primary hypertension can be caused due to a range of issues that may include malnutrition, drugs, genetics, etc. Secondary hypertension is a result of other health issues already present in the body.
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Heart Diseases:
Obesity is a huge factor in increasing cholesterol levels. can also kill the good cholesterol in your body, responsible for removing the excellent cholesterol. Having obesity increases your chances of getting a heart attack. Obesity is also one of the reasons for increased mortality and morbidity. Amongst other heart diseases, it can cause cancer, sleep-related disorders, sleep apnea, dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance, hypoventilation, and a prothrombotic state. It may further cause coronary heart disease or heart failure. It can lead to sudden death because of the impact on the cardiovascular system. It is the reason many obese individuals have a lower life expectancy. Obesity is also said to be associated with coronary atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis lesions are more common in patients with a higher BMI. The diseases and issues listed above are among the many that might haunt you if you are obese.
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Respiratory Diseases
Obesity can put a lot of pressure on your lungs and can cause the compression of the lungs. It can cause compression of the diaphragm, chest cavity, and lungs leading to pulmonary damage. Excess fat can cause pulmonary resistance, and it also reduces the strength of the respiratory muscles. Obesity and an impaired lung function impairs the lungs even more and can cause a lot of problems in the future. In obese patients, there is a relationship between body fat distribution and lung function. There may be a greater danger if the fat is accumulated near the chest and abdomen.
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Cancer
Obesity causes more than 90,000 deaths due to cancer every year. The types of cancer stemming from obesity include ovarian, cervical, esophageal, pancreatic, liver, kidney, leukaemia, etc. One of the reasons for cancer is linked to obesity due to the levels of increasing insulin in your body. It may help some cancer cells grow. The inflammation caused in cells is another reason which increases your chances of getting cancer. As more estrogen is produced in your body, it may lead to increased cell production, causing breast and endometrial cancer.
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GERD
GERD or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease is another disease that is linked with high body weight. Due to excess body fat in the stomach and abdomen area, it puts pressure on the stomach hence forming a hernia. This Hiatal hernia causes hormonal changes or backflow of acid in the body. This backflow can cause irritation and inflammation in the esophagus. As the esophagus narrows, it can cause swallowing and other problems. It may lead to ulcers or sores that could bleed while ingesting, leading to irritation and burning. These kinds of changes are dangerous to the esophagus and can also lead to esophageal cancer.
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Joint and Bone Issues
Obesity can lead to several joint and bone issues, causing pain and accidents as you move along. Obesity can lead to osteoarthritis, which is caused by constant wear and tear in joints. Osteoarthritis has affected several people with obesity, especially in hip and knee joints, causing many issues in doing simple activities like walking. The excess body weight can cause a lot of pressure on the knee joints leading to osteoarthritis. Due to the wear and tear, the smooth surfaces of the joints become a bit damaged. It cau ses stiffness in joints and pain every time you try to move. Due to the broken parts, the bones cannot move smoothly, hence causing the pain.
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Alzheimer’s Disease
Obesity can also increase your chances of dementia. Studies have found that people with higher body weights are at more risk of getting Alzheimer’s than people with low body weight. Dementia linked to obesity is seen to increase rapidly in western societies. Specifically, obesity in the middle age is being linked with the chances of getting dementia. Dementia caused by obesity is generally linked with having excess fat in the stomach. Even people with a healthy BMI having excess body fat in the belly region increase the chances of getting dementia. It is because belly fat produces hormones that cause insulin resistance and promote inflammation.
Losing Obesity to Get Prevention from Unknown and Deadly Disease Like COVID 19:
A recent study found that among 1000 patients of COVID 19, almost 70% of patients are overweight or obese. It means these patients have a BMI above 22.5. After scrutinizing this study, it is cleared that obese people are more vulnerable to COVID 19. In short, obese people have more chances to suffer from such unknown diseases and fewer opportunities to recover from such conditions than healthy people.
There are many reasons which provoke this problem. Like obese people have an inadequate antigen-stimulation response and have weak respiratory muscles. It will increase the resistance in airways and reduce the volume of lungs. That is why they are more vulnerable to COVID 19. You can prevent yourself from such deadly diseases and adopt a healthy life by losing obesity.
The above-listed problems caused by obesity include Diabetes, Heart Diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Cancer, GERD, Joint and Bone issues, and Alzheimer’s. If you are obese and at risk of contracting any of the health issues mentioned above, you should try one of the weight-loss tips and make changes to your lifestyle. It will help considerably improve your health.
If you’re obese and know that you are risking a lot of diseases due to your body fat, you should try considering ways that will help you get your BMI healthy. For this, you will need a considerable change in lifestyle. But if you take the first step, start small and continue along the path, it will only help you better your health.
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