Obesity
• Modern living has created increased leisure time.
• We lead a sedentary lifestyle and this has increased the modern daily illnesses like
obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancers.
• Obesity is a severe overweight condition of the body.
• It is the accumulation of body fat where the fat is more than 20% above the norm
for the persons height and build.
How does it affect the body?
• The body is bigger, so the cardiovascular-respiratory systems have to work much
harder because more energy is needed to move a bigger mass.
• There is an increase in adipose tissue and a decrease in sweat gland density that
makes it harder to remove waste energy.
• A thick insulating layer under the skin will tend to restrict flow of heat outwards.
• This means that the heat has to work harder to pump blood faster around the
circulatory system, so that heat can be released more rapidly near the skin surface.
• The circulatory system within the adipose tissue is relatively poor so blood cant
reach the skin surface in large quantities.
• This all means the heart and respiratory system are overloaded.
• Obesity is linked with cardiovascular diseases like hypertension and coronary artery
disease and cerebral thrombosis.
• An obese person is also more likely to develop diabetes, a hernia and other diseases
as well as suffering from backache and joint damage.
Causes of Obesity:
• The main cause is that energy intake (food) is far greater than energy output
(exercise), so the person gains weight.
Energy input > Energy output
• Excess carbs get stored as glycogen.
• When the glycogen stores are filled, carbs get converted to fatty acids as glycerol.
• A person becomes overweight from poor eating habits and unbalanced diets made
up of a high proportion of fat.
• Overindulgence is often linked to psychological, social and cultural factors (anxious
eating).
• Childhood obesity is strongly linked to adult obesity.
• Obesity’s long term effects limit joint mobility.
• Body strength, endurance and speed are impaired by obesity.
• Modern living has created increased leisure time.
• We lead a sedentary lifestyle and this has increased the modern daily illnesses like
obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancers.
• Obesity is a severe overweight condition of the body.
• It is the accumulation of body fat where the fat is more than 20% above the norm
for the persons height and build.
How does it affect the body?
• The body is bigger, so the cardiovascular-respiratory systems have to work much
harder because more energy is needed to move a bigger mass.
• There is an increase in adipose tissue and a decrease in sweat gland density that
makes it harder to remove waste energy.
• A thick insulating layer under the skin will tend to restrict flow of heat outwards.
• This means that the heat has to work harder to pump blood faster around the
circulatory system, so that heat can be released more rapidly near the skin surface.
• The circulatory system within the adipose tissue is relatively poor so blood cant
reach the skin surface in large quantities.
• This all means the heart and respiratory system are overloaded.
• Obesity is linked with cardiovascular diseases like hypertension and coronary artery
disease and cerebral thrombosis.
• An obese person is also more likely to develop diabetes, a hernia and other diseases
as well as suffering from backache and joint damage.
Causes of Obesity:
• The main cause is that energy intake (food) is far greater than energy output
(exercise), so the person gains weight.
Energy input > Energy output
• Excess carbs get stored as glycogen.
• When the glycogen stores are filled, carbs get converted to fatty acids as glycerol.
• A person becomes overweight from poor eating habits and unbalanced diets made
up of a high proportion of fat.
• Overindulgence is often linked to psychological, social and cultural factors (anxious
eating).
• Childhood obesity is strongly linked to adult obesity.
• Obesity’s long term effects limit joint mobility.
• Body strength, endurance and speed are impaired by obesity.
