Why Is Obesity a Problem in Society - Get an Answer from This Free Essay

Obesity complications

Obesity has negative health impacts on reproduction. According to Brewer and Balen (2010) there is a well established connection between obesity and infertility. Pregnancy rates among obese people have been found to be very low. Obesity leads to increase in the release of insulin in the body. High levels of insulin lead to low levels of sex hormone which affects ovulation and fertility negatively. Obesity also affects reproduction and ability to sire children because it reduces one’s ability to engage in physical activities. Sex is physical and thus tiring for obese people and as a result leads to their inability to engage in it for reproductive purposes (Wardle 2009).

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As pointed earlier, unhealthy food and lack of physical activities solely cannot cause obesity. The genetic makeup of an individual determines if he or she can become obese. This means that some people have more hereditary disposition to being obese than others and thus need to check the lifestyle to avoid becoming obese (Wardle 2009). The chance of becoming obese for a person suffering from a genetic predisposition is increased by the environment one lives and the lifestyle he or she adopts. Lifestyle factors that increase the chances of being obese include the type of food one eats, the activities he or she engages in and the kind of work he or she performs. Obesity becomes a problem to the people with a genetic makeup of being obese because they have to keep track of the food they eat as well as try engaging in physical activities from time to time to burn excess calories in their bodies.

At-risk populations

Obesity is a health problem that mostly affects the poor and unemployed people in the society. However, this does not mean that obesity affects only the poor, it also affects the rich but the poor are affected more than the wealthy. Rich people often suffer from obesity as a result of overeating because they can afford it. Children from wealthy backgrounds often become obese because their parents feed them on junk food that is often advertised on the various media platforms (Armstrong, et. al 2012). Most of the obese people eat foods rich in excess carbohydrates because some of them cannot afford a balanced diet. On the other hand, people from poor backgrounds have a high propensity of becoming obese because they cannot afford balanced diet and also because they cannot afford quality health care.

Obesity is a health issue because it serves to widen the gap between the rich and the poor in the society (Shah 2010). The issue of obesity should be addressed because it increases social segregation in the society between the rich and the poor. Wealthy neighborhoods have facilities that promote physical activities and healthy living, unlike poor neighborhoods. In a way, obesity helps to strengthen the various social classes that have different living standards and way of life. People from the lower classes experience challenges to put food on the table. The economic hardships faced by the people of lower social status make them have stress which contributes to obesity (Armstrong, et. al 2012). Stress is a form of a mental disorder that in the long run can lead to increase in the body weight and hence lead to obesity.

The social environment where one lives also determine the people one lives with as his or her neighbors. Individuals who live with friend, who know the value of healthy eating are likely to be influenced to make a decision to take a balanced diet (Wardle 2009). On the other hand, if one lives with neighbors who see nothing wrong with gaining a lot of weight, he or she is likely to develop the view that there is nothing wrong with becoming overweight and this will lead to obesity. Poor neighborhoods know little about healthy living due to lack of sufficient education, and thus people from such areas are likely to become obese as there is nobody to guide them on proper nutrition. In a nutshell, obesity is a health problem because it largely affects illiterate and poor people in the society (Armstrong, et. al 2012). Obesity seems to be a lifestyle disease that targets individuals who lack sufficient information on proper nutrition as well as people who cannot afford a balanced diet.

Side effects of obesity

Most of the people suffering from obesity suffer from a mental disorder such as depression, schizophrenia, stress, and anxiety. The mental illness brought by obesity affect how the individual relates to other people in the society (Waine & Wiley InterScience 2012). As a result of mental disorder, most of obese people become suicidal in the long run as they feel that people have neglected them because they feel that they are a burden to them. The mental disorders are brought by the fact that obese people have problems partaking in physical activities such as cooking or cleaning, and they have to rely on family members and friends to help them with the domestic chores. The inability to partake in simple domestic tasks increases the stress level. In the long run, the mental disorders brought by obesity make an obese person become addicted to eating, and this further increases their weight because what they do is eat all the time. The overweight person sees food as solace to challenges one is facing and the food is the only source of pleasure. Most of the obese people are ignorant of the fact that eating a lot of food does not solve any of their problems, but it only serves to increase their weight and suffering (Waine & Wiley InterScience 2012). Obesity makes people less attractive physically due to the accumulation of a lot of weight, and this means that obese people have difficulties finding partners. Obese people have low self-esteem and majority of them claim that they hate themselves and this makes them think that everyone around them including their family members do not love them much.

Obesity is a health problem because it increases the chances of suffering from other ailments such as indigestion, arthritis, and gallstones (Armstrong, et. al 2012). An obese person is a higher propensity of suffering from the illnesses mentioned above than a person with an average body mass index. The fact that an obese is at risk of suffering from many other diseases increases the individual's suffering as well as morbidity. This means that an obese person has a low life expectancy as compared to a healthy person. According to Bogart (2013), an overweight child as the life expectancy of 37 years while a healthy child has a life expectancy of over 55 years. This shows that obesity reduces the life expectancy because it predisposes the obese individuals to several opportunistic diseases. The accumulation of a lot of fat in the body weakens the organs as well as the body immune, and this increases the chances of an obese falling ill. It is worth noting that an obese person can suffer from multiple ailments at the same time due to the weak immune system. The fact that obesity lowers the life expectancy and causes infertility mean that obesity is a threat to the future generation (Bogart 2013). Early deaths of children suffering from obesity and the infertility of the obese people put the entire society at risk of small reproduction. The increasing number of individuals who are obese should be checked to ensure continuity of the community.