In the period of antiquity and in the Middle Ages, excess weight in women was considered a sign of beauty, and the obesity of a man spoke of his wealth and good nutrition. But today, this appearance is more likely to indicate a metabolic disorder or an unbalanced diet. Obesity is far from defects in appearance and difficulty in selecting clothes, as well as an unattractive figure: tastes in relation to body build and style are not permanent. However, excess fat in the body threatens the formation of serious heart diseases, skeletal lesions and hormonal changes. Therefore, it is important, in the presence of problems, to consult a doctor and under his control to deal with weight loss, not only for the acquisition of beauty and harmony, but also for health. What is dangerous is a similar metabolic disorder?
What should be considered obese?
By the term obesity doctors mean an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue in problem areas and, as a result, an increase in body weight. At the same time, hated pounds are formed not only at the waist and in the hips, fat fills free spaces within the abdominal cavity, leading to obesity and internal organs. Also obesity is dangerous for the walls of blood vessels, they suffer equally from metabolic disorders. In addition, fat is filled with mammary glands, shoulder and back area, neck, which causes snoring at night and attacks of apnea. Due to obesity, not only psychological complexes and purely aesthetic discomfort are formed – this is a deadly strain on all organs of the body.
Changes in metabolism
Obesity leads to serious metabolic disorders and endocrine disruptions, which threatens the layering of various diseases. The disturbed metabolism – not only of carbohydrates and fats, but also of all other metabolites – threatens the formation of diabetes on the background of obesity, usually of the second type. In addition, with obesity, the risk of hypertension and heart attack sharply increases, cerebral circulation is impaired due to atherosclerotic vascular damage, which increases the risk of death or disability as a result of a stroke.
The disturbed metabolism with the accumulation of fats threatens the development of problems with the skeleton and joints. Progressive osteochondrosis, arthritis and arthrosis are formed, which is associated with exorbitant loads commensurate with weightlifting, where the bar is raised to hundreds of kilograms. Because of metabolic disorders, there are digestive and respiratory disorders, sexual dysfunction, impotence and infertility, associated not only with estrogens and testosterone, but also with the metabolism of other hormones, circulatory disorders in the pelvic vessels due to atherosclerosis.
Overweight – is it dangerous?
If we talk about the terms “obesity” and “overweight”, then these are not equivalent concepts. They are close in meaning, but the degree of severity of the problem with them is not the same. Speaking about the specific concept of “overweight”, it means a small deviation from the normal (ideal) mass in the direction of the increase. In addition, the concept of excess weight is often operated in the non-medical sphere, assessing the figure from the point of view of pure aesthetics and subjective notions of ideality. That is, using the term excess weight, talk about small shortcomings of the figure in models, celebrities, young girls or boys, although from the point of view of medical norms their mass fits within the limits of acceptable values.
It is also worth remembering that the medical term “overweight” is also not equivalent to the notion of overweight. If the doctor speaks about excess weight, he means a deviation from the ideal by 10-15% and not more. That is, it is an easy fullness, while obesity can have deviations from the normal (ideal) weight of 100-200% and even more.
The problem of losing weight at any cost
Naturally, overweight, and even more pronounced obesity – is a serious medical problem. But losing weight is no less a problem for modern medicine.
Many men and women turn to lose weight on the Internet for dangerous diets and for various scams and scammers who promise to save their accumulated fats by just a couple of weeks at the expense of pills, drinks and berries. At best, this weight loss threatens to lose money, often quite large. Sometimes dubious pills for weight loss lead to nervous illnesses, psychoses and depression, suicidal attempts, while weight may not decrease. There may be variants of severe weight loss on such preparations, but the metabolism suffers so much that osteoporosis, anemia, digestive, liver and kidney diseases develop, and anorexia with extreme leanness is formed instead of obesity.
Diseases associated with weight fluctuations
Often, imposed stereotypes of beauty in the form of tall and extremely thin beauties and handsome people suffering from anorexia, bring quite healthy young men and women of physiologically normal weight to extremes. They compare themselves with idols, glamorous models, and try to imitate them in everything, including weight. Strict diets, hunger strikes, restrictions on fats, carbohydrates or certain foods begin. This threatens the formation of digestive diseases, such as gastritis and ulcer, pancreatitis and cholecystitis. No less dangerous are anemia, multivitamin deficiency associated with diets, and endocrine diseases caused by malfunctions in the synthesis of hormones of certain glands.
Against the background of weight loss is often formed infertility associated with a deficiency of sex hormones. Thus, nature, understanding in what critical state the body is, limits the functions of reproduction. Often, immunity suffers, which leads to frequent colds that take a complicated and prolonged course. Constant hunger and malaise cause a state of stress, irritability and aggression, which can form nervous and mental illnesses. Therefore, extremes in terms of both weight gain and loss are very dangerous.
Picture Credit: taniadimas