How Obesity Affects Life Expectancy?

Obesity is a disease that involves excessive body fat. Obesity is connected with various health complications and can increase the risk of diseases like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers. As per the statistics, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over (39% of men and 40% of women) are overweight. A total of about 13% of the world’s adult population out of which 11% of men and 15% of women were obese in 2016. Between 1975 and 2016, the worldwide prevalence of obesity tripled.

The Global Problem

Various organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) said that obesity is a major global health problem and taking a CTA on this epidemic is extremely important. As per the WHO, a total of 2.8 million people are dying globally every year due to the reason of obesity.

The WHO also cited that the global prevalence of obesity doubled in the year 2008. While earlier, obesity was linked with high-income countries, today it is interconnected with low- and middle-income countries as well. Obesity is not only a major health concern in adults and elder people but it is also targeting children as well. Today, childhood obesity has become a global health concern and a total of 40 million children were suffering from obesity even before their pre-schooling. According to WHO statistics, “44% of diabetes, 23% of ischemic heart disease, and as much as 41% of certain cancers can be attributed to overweight and obesity.”

Various experts have linked obesity with the declining life expectancy

Link between Obesity and Life Expectancy

As per a study, a major number of death rates are linked to body mass index (BMI). Higher BMIs leads to various cardiovascular diseases and other diseases that decrease life expectancy. Around 3, 00,000 deaths recorded in an annual year is caused due to obesity. Obesity in childhood can easily be transferred to adulthood and therefore taking care of various factors like diet, physical activities from childhood are extremely vital to eradicate the risks of health ailments and lower life expectancy. As per the studies, Children especially boys who are being overweight in childhood are connected to an increased risk of death.

Steps of prevention

Taking steps of prevention is always better than cure and therefore making some laid-back changes in your lifestyle can assist you in decreasing the risk of obesity and other health ailments related to this disorder. Make sure to combat a sedentary lifestyle (add in 30-45 minutes of physical exercises) and keep a tab on your diet (add in naturally healthy food and cut out the consumption of processed and packaged foods) in order to manage your weight and to reduce the risk of various health complications. Also, if you are suffering from obesity, consult a doctor and go through the daily tests in order to reduce the excess weight.

Footnote

Obesity is a complicated disorder and can increase the risk of various other life-threatening health complications. It is never too late to start taking precautions. Make sure to keep yourself active and abide by a healthy and clean diet to make yourself all hale and hearty.