Causes of Obesity

Recently, a research has found that teenagers are exposed to the risk of having obesity. There is no sign to show that the statistics decline. It even rises to an alarming level. Obesity can be defined as having a high amount of extra body fat. The most useful measure of obesity is Body Mass Index (BMI). It is based on height and weight of an adult, a child and a teen. The higher the BMI value, the higher the risk of disease. If the BMI ranges from 30.0 to 39.9, one is in obese. Obesity may cause by unbalanced diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep and environment. People nowadays consume unbalanced diet in daily life. As they always busy with their works, they prefer to eat at restaurants and fast food outlets for instance, Kentucky Chicken Fried, MacDonald, Sugar bun, Pizza Hut and Kenny Rogers. These restaurants mostly offer food which is high in calories. This food includes fried chicken, French fries, burger, cheese spaghetti and so on. All of them are rich in fats, salts and sugars. If consume too much in amount, they will become obese. Besides, those who carry out heavy work related with irons and metals need a lot of energies. In order to ensure they have enough energy to work, they like to eat meats but less intake vegetables and fruits. As a result, they are overweight as they practice an imbalanced meal. Many people are physically inactive. They dislike sports and live a sedentary life. They spend hours in front of televisions like a couch potato. Some sitting in front of computers doing work, schoolwork and leisure activity, that is playing online games. In fact, more than 2 hours a day of regular television watching time has been linked to overweight and obesity. Other reasons for not being active are relying on cars instead of walking, fewer physical demands at home because of modern technology and lacking of physical education classes in schools for children. People who are lacking of exercise are more likely to gain weight because they do not burn up the calories that they take in from food and soft drink. Studies find that the less people sleep, the easier to be obese. Those who report sleeping 5 hours per day, for example, are much more likely to become obese compare with people who sleep 8 hours a night. People who have fewer sleeps commonly favour to have supper during midnight. They prefer to eat foods that are higher in carbohydrates and calories such as “Kueh- tiao Goreng”, which can lead to weight gain. It is because people who do not get enough sleep regularly have high level of Ghrelin. Ghrelin is a hormone which causes hunger. Thus, people who sleep fewer hours are at risk of suffering from overeating, weight gain and obesity. Does anyone realize that our environment does not support healthy lifestyle habits? Instead, it encourages obesity. Some people do not live in neighbourhoods that have supermarkets that sell healthy foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables. Or, for some people, these healthy foods are too costly. In addition, advertisements from food companies mushroom in the recent years. Often, children are the targets for high-calorie, high-fat snacks and sugary drinks. The purpose of advertising is to sway people to buy these kinds of food. Not having recreation places and affordable gyms make it hard to exercise regularly. In short, obesity will not come to the end if people continue to live in a bad environment. Since less nutritious consumption, lack of physical activity, sleeplessness and the nature people live in can cause obesity, the problem should be tackled seriously. To curb obesity, parents should encourage their children to play outdoors frequently, even 3 times a week is enough. Rather than eating out, one should limit the consumption of fast food and sugar-sweetened soft drink. Be wisely in using the precious time by reducing television viewing because “time is money”. As the saying goes, “an apple a day, keeps doctor away”. Hence, begins a new life with healthy habits by now.