Obesity

Obese people look older than their age with less attractive and unpleasant appearance. Obesity is a very common problem in our society. Not surprisingly, mostly who are morbidly obese feel embarrassed to appear in public. It is common to sense that people are looking at them and commenting on their appearance and the difficulties it produces in dressing well and moving freely.

They prefer to withdraw and confine within the family circle and rarely venture in social gatherings. This may help them to cope with routines, but equally it deprives them of a chance to work outside the family. It is not too surprising therefore to find that the obese have a low level of self-esteem and a feeling of worthlessness and uselessness and it is natural for them to suffer depression. They hate their appearance and feel that they are totally unattractive to their life partner and to everybody.

What are the causes?
Obesity has multiple causes; the development of obesity is a complex interaction between genetic, psychological, socio-economic, hormonal and cultural factors.

Genetics
The most important cause of obesity is a person's Hereditary background. Obesity tends to run in some families, obesity may be reported from childhood. Clinically most patient's report of obesity during middle age.

Endocrine disorders
Endocrine disorders play major role in obesity under which; Thyroid disorders to be the important part. Hypothyroidism causes unexplainable weight gain now a days. Polycystic ovarian disease makes the teenagers obese to some extent. Obese women, especially those with upper body obesity, show more irregularity in menstrual cycles as well as greater frequency of other menstrual abnormalities than women with normal weight. Women prone to be obese if medicated with "Hormonal preparations" such as oestrogens, progesterone to counteract their menstrual irregularities and use contraception. Surgical removal of uterus and ovaries makes a woman obese. Hypogonadism makes the teenage boys become flabby.

Life-style
Another important cause is a person's life-style. This includes eating habits and exercise patterns.

Dietary Habits
Increase in the prevalence of obesity is higher due to dietary fat. Obese patients eat more than what they need. The calorie intake exceeds the calorie used. It is a fundamental truth that if we take more calories regularly, then we will store them and put on weight. Another, important thing is a person's psyche. Sometimes we all tend to eat even though we are not hungry. Often, psychological pressures stimulate Over eating. Smoking and drinking promote fat storage.

What would happen?
If you are obese, you are likely to suffer medical, physical and social problems. The first problem of concern is to reduce life expectancy of obese people. As compared to the normal built people, obese people have only 75 per cent of chance to reach the old age. Obese people often cannot do things that normal people can. They have to strain more to do simple things. Sporting activities are generally out, which excludes them from many family gatherings. Most cannot buy clothes easily of their size and find difficulty in getting in and out of cars, into the seats in a buses or cinema theatres. Flexibility gets reduced. The toes get progressively out of reach and personal hygiene can become a problem.

Physical activity of any sort can be quite difficult due to shortness of breath and easy fatigue, so that even housework or continuous employment is a challenge. There are several abnormalities in pulmonary function in obese individuals. There is a fairly uniform decrease in expiratory reserve volume and a tendency to reduction in all lung volumes, which makes the victim gasping on few steps. The obese individual has impairment in attending routine activities. This dysfunction is related to sleep, recreation, work and social interactions. In some studies obese persons were found to be significantly anxious and depressed than normal built persons. Major set of problems caused by morbid obesity is diseases other than physical disability and embarrassment. There is a long list of illnesses that are either caused by or made worse, by obesity. There are too many for you to focus upon, so we list those that are more important and frequent problems.

These include:
Diabetes.
Cardio-vascular diseases.
Arthritis.
Menstrual Disorders. Gall stones.
Obesity and Diabetes.

Even moderate obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, can increase the risk of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus ten-fold. Fat tissue apparently has two roles in promoting diabetes:

It increases the demand for insulin.
It creates insulin resistance.