life expectancy

Obesity shortens life spans

Karan MunsLeave a comment

Obesity sucks. It makes the heart work harder to pump blood through such a large body. The lungs have to work harder to provide the body oxygen. Basically an obese person’s body has to work so much harder than a body at a healthy weight has to work. The extra stress that excess weight puts on the body causes a much shorter life span. It is pretty safe to say that most people want to live a long, healthy, and happy life. Obesity shatters that dream.

Obesity can shorten a lifespan by eight years. Eight birthdays, eight long years of happy and healthy memories could be lost because of having 20% more body fat than their ideal weight. Eight years is enough time to complete high school and college for most students. Obesity not only shortens the life span but it can cause a person to have up to 19 years with chronic illnesses. 19 years is a long time to be plagued with preventable diseases. Read the time magazine article about obesity and life here.  People with a BMI of 40 or higher are considered to be extremely obese. Extreme obesity can shorten the average lifespan by up to 14 years. Most of these deaths are not considered to be death by obesity but obesity is the underlying cause. The direct cause would be something like a heart attack or a stroke learn more here .

Most deaths from obesity are preventable with the correct treatment plan, and correct diet and exercise. Learn more about how to handle obesity and gain control for the American Heart Association here.

Obesity vs smoking

Karan MunsLeave a comment

Obesity is a terrible thing. It’s a bigger problem in American than smoking now and contributes to the rising cost of healthcare and leading cause of death in America. Around 23% of the American population are obese while only 16.8% smoke. About 300,000 people die from obesity every year. The American culture is not doing anything to help fix the problem. Fast food is more easily available to people in all types of communities and making the healthy choice is not the same as making the easy choice. This causes the obesity rates to rise.

There are tons of anti-smoking campaigns like these ads here and here. There aren’t as many anti-obesity campaigns because calling people obese is considered mean even if their BMI is over 30 and they are extremely unhealthy. There are some campaigns that try to combat obesity by telling kids to get out and play like these ads here and here. These ads are directed at children though not adults. Any reminders to be healthy are going to help though there just need to be more of them. Advertising for smoking is seen all the time while obesity is clearly a bigger issue for America at the moment.

Obesity might not seem as scary as lung cancer or not having pretty skin, common issues smokers face, but it can directly cause health problems like heart attack, stroke, hypertension and diabetes and can end in death pretty quickly. Even a 10% weight loss can decrease risk for many of these diseases learn more here here.