Obesity

Obesity Opens The Door To Other Diseases

Obesity is a disease. Yet, its true danger lies in the health risks that have become associated with obesity. These include heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, sleep apnea, and some forms of cancer. The stress of carrying around extra weight results in these adverse effects on the body that could be avoided or sometimes corrected with diet and exercise to eliminate obesity as an aggravating factor.

Obesity can lead to sudden death from heart disease and stroke. This is because of putting extra stress on the heart to do its job efficiently. An overworked heart manifests itself through an increase in blood pressure and angina. It is not unusual for someone who is obese to battle high blood pressure and increased cholesterol levels. These are warning signals that you are not healthy. Fortunately, a weight loss of as little as 10% of body weight can decrease the probability of developing heart disease by allowing the heart to pump more efficiently. This weight loss can also lower blood pressure and cholesterol blood levels.

Diabetes is another disease that is regularly associated with obesity. Obese people are twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as those who are not overweight. Type 2 diabetes can lead to a host of problems ranging from heart disease and stroke to blindness and early death. An increase in physical activity in conjunctions with healthy food choices can reduce or even reverse the effects of diabetes.

Obesity increases the chances of developing osteoarthritis. This is because the excess body weight puts more stress on the joint cartilage. The joint most often affected is the knee. As with most of the diseases associated with obesity, it has been found that weight loss helps reduce joint pain associated with obesity-onset osteoarthritis.

Sleep apnea is another condition that is associated with obesity. Sleep apnea is a condition where a person stops breathing for short periods of time while they are sleeping. Often, it is the presence of excess body fat on the neck or chest that constricts airway passages to interrupt breathing during sleep.

Although obesity increases the incidence of certain diseases, most of these diseases can be better controlled or even reversed with weight loss. The potential to avoid or reduce the effects of these diseases might be just the motivation needed to make the lifestyle changes necessary to combat obesity.