Obesity: Causes, Types And Treatment Of Obesity

Intoductio

Obesity is the heavy accumulation of fat in your body to such a degree that it rapidly increases your risk of diseases that can damage your health and knock years off your life, such as heart disease and diabetes.

Causes of Obesity

1) Obesity results when there is an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure.

2) If your metabolism tends to be slow, you are more likely to store excess calories in the form of fat. A slow metabolism means you probably need to work harder at losing weight. However, your efforts may ultimately increase your metabolic rate. Muscle burns more calories than fat, even at rest. So reducing fat and building muscle through weight-bearing exercise can help you burn calories more efficiently.

3) You have to burn calories if your environment is too hot or too cold for comfort. But more people than ever live and work in temperature-controlled homes and offices.

4) Getting too little sleep can increase body weight. Today's Americans get less shut-eye than ever.

5) If parents are overweight, children can often be overweight too. Part of this is due to genes and part is due to the family's pattern of eating and exercise.

Types of obesity

1) Psychological Depression, sadness, anxiety, stress, and other psychological conditions may affect the amount of food one eats and/or the amount of exercise one engages in.Some illnesses can lead to obesity or a tendency to gain weight. These include hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, depression, and certain neurological problems that can lead to overeating. Also, drugs such as steroids and some antidepressants may cause weight gain. Poor or interrupted sleep may also contribute to obesity and overeating.

2) Gynoid: In this type the lower part of the body has the extra flesh. This type of obesity is also common to both sexes though females are more affected. Gynoid type of obesity is similar to pears. The flesh is somewhat flabby in the abdomen, thighs, buttocks & legs. The face & neck mostly give a normal appearance. In some persons, the cheeks may be drawn too. As these persons grow old the whole figure assumes a stooping posture and the spine is never erect due to the heavy hips & thighs. This vital organs affected mostly are the kidneys, uterus, intestines, bladder & bowls. But the functions of these organs some times have a direct effect on the heart.

3) Constitutional Obesity,:. Obesity starts from infancy to adult. Usually they have family history of Obesity. They have very good appetite from half a year after birth and body fat cell number begins to increase. Their metabolism is slow and synthesis exceeds catabolism. There will be poor cure effect by limiting diet and strengthening exercise. They are not sensitive to insulin.

Treatment of Obesity

1) Surgical Treatment of Obesity Obesity is a chronic medical condition without a "cure." For severely obese patients who have significant obesity-related medical complications (hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea, etc.), surgery is an option. Generally, the weight criterion for surgery is to be at least 100 lbs. (45 kg.) over your ideal body weight. The surgical methods have changed over the years but can be divided into gastric (stomach) restrictive procedures and gastrointestinal (intestinal) bypass procedures.

2) Behavioral Therapy Behavior modification is common to all weight loss programs. Modification includes strategies that aid individuals to overcome barriers to comply with dietary changes and physical activity. Most behavioral modification programs encourage self-monitoring of both diet and exercise to increase one's own awareness of the activities. Modification strategies may also include stress management, social support, and stimulus control.Combining behavioral therapy, diet therapy, and increased physical activity should be considered as initial "therapy" for weight loss. This combination should be continued for at least 6 months before proceeding to drug therapy.

3) Changing eating habits: Eating fewer calories while increasing activity is the best way to lose weight. For most adults, low calorie diet of 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day for women and 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day for men is recommended for weight loss.