The Health Impacts Of Being Overweight
Synopsis: Being overweight can have an impact many things, including your health. This article discusses some of the health impacts that it may have.
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If you are overweight, the benefits of loosing that weight are more than just looks; your very health may depend on it. Weight gain can put you at risk for many health related conditions such as,
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Stroke
- Cancer, and
- Sleep apnea
Heart Disease And High Blood Pressure
Carrying around that extra weight can help to raise blood pressure, which in turn puts undue stress on the heart.
If you have high blood pressure, your heart has to work harder to get the blood pumped throughout your body. When your heart is working harder, it requires more oxygen rich blood for the heart muscles.
Having high amounts of cholesterol, and triglycerides (blood fats) in the blood have been linked to being overweight, and those can cause buildups of plaque on the interior walls of the arteries.
Think of your arteries as if they are a garden hose. When the garden hose has a clean, smooth wall on the inside, the water will flow through smoothly.
After years of dirty water flowing through it, the minerals and dirt in the water build up on the inside of the hose restricting the flow.
With the human body, if you restrict that flow of blood to the heart it must work harder, while receiving less blood with each pump of the heart. This can damage the heart muscle and lead to an enlarged heart, or heart disease.
Loosing weight by only 5 to 10 percent can decrease the chances of heart disease, and high blood pressure by reducing the amount of blood fats in the blood.
How High Blood Pressure Can Cause A Stroke
The brain receives about 15 to 20 percent of the total blood that is used by the body. This is supplied by two main arteries, the carotid and vertebral arteries, and many smaller arterioles, or blood vessels.
A stroke occurs when the supply of blood to the brain is restricted, just the same as with a heart attack.
High blood pressure usually means that you either have plaque buildup on the inside of the artery walls, (caused by blood fats in the blood) or your blood vessels are constricted (narrowed), which can be caused by stress as well as other factors.
Both of these result in less blood flow, and this is what can lead to stroke. Again, loosing weight by 5 to 10 percent can lower blood pressure, and reduce blood fats, thereby reducing the chances of a stroke.
Being Overweight Can Contribute To Sleep Apnea
Loud snoring and pauses in breathing while sleeping can be symptoms of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is caused by a narrowing of the throat. When we breathe in, the soft tissues of the throat tend to rattle making the sound that we all refer to as snoring.
Being overweight can cause the fatty tissues of the throat to enlarge, restricting the flow of air into the lungs. This restriction is what causes people to stop breathing, and wake up many times during the night.
Not getting a good nights sleep each night for many years on end can produce many health problems. It is thought that sleep apnea is one of the many causes of high blood pressure.
If you have sleep apnea and are even a little overweight, then it may be a good idea to loose some of that excess weight.
What About Diabetes
The CDC reported December 31st 2002 a study that concluded a "strong and significant" association between being overweight, and developing diabetes, as well as other health related problems.
Losing even a small amount of weight can have a significant impact on whether you develop diabetes, or not.
Conclusion
With all of the health problems related to being overweight, it would make sense to trim off a little of that weight. Get into a good exercise program, and eat a well balanced diet to help drop the pounds. If you can lose as little as ten pounds, you will be that much closer to a healthier you.
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