Diabetes And The Health Status Of The Population Of Any Area Is Depicted By Obesity Essay

What can Americans do to make a sedentary lifestyle change? Despite Americans unhealthy habits and the obesity epidemic plaguing the Country, a change in sedentary lifestyle such as: Regular physical activities, and better eating in conjunction with a better diet are steps that can be taken immediately to remedy the situation and put Americans on the path of recovery.

4. Haskell WL, Lee IM, Pate RR, et al. Physical activity and public health: updated recommendation for adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2007; 39(8):1423-34. Abstract available at:

Caba (2016) reported that a sedentary lifestyle can increase the risk of heart disease more than smoking and obesity in women over 30. For this reason, minimising sedentary behaviour is an important physical activity aspect that should in the ‘Top 9 Australian Wellness Guidelines for Adults’.

Much has been written to explain the medical aspect of obesity but little attention has been paid to understanding the sociological aspect of the epidemic. This research attempts to understand the sociological aspect of obesity by examining the socio-cultural, gender, and psycho-social effects and includes the different perceptions of the epidemic as well as what is deemed acceptable in the society we live in.

The author’s paternal grandmother also recently perished from a diabetes-related heart attack. The author is overweight with a BMI of 25, carrying most of her fat in the abdominal area and exercises infrequently. Her ethnic background and family history of diabetes and hypertension further increase her risk for developing diabetes. Gordon's Functional Health Patterns (FHP) created by Marjory Gordon (2008) was used to provide a more complete assessment of the author’s risk. There are 11 FHP; however, this paper will focus primarily on the Activity-Exercise and Nutritional-Metabolic pattern (Gordon, 2008). The Activity-Exercise pattern was used to assess the author’s activity level, how often she exercised, and what type of exercise were done (Gordon, 2008). The Nutritional-Metabolic pattern was used to assess the author’s overall eating habits and family weight trend (Gordon, 2008). Both patterns are important tools for assessing the author’s risk for diabetes type 2 because physical inactivity, obesity and certain diets will increases her risk of developing the

The data collected from a survey performed by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System regarding time, frequency and proportion of exercise reports that 58.1% of the interviewees were considered physically inactive; 29.8 % concluded with not having time for exercising. Besides, the statistics showed that there was not much difference between genders as it was almost the same percentage of passive lifestyle; however, there were differences when considering race and age (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010).

Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are a growing problem around the world today. Not only do diseases such as diabetes and heart disease affect individuals and their lifestyles, they also affect the economy, politics, education and the professional work environment. 20-26% of individuals in the United States live with heart disease, and obesity and high blood pressure compose the greatest factors for developing this disease [20]. Studies have shown a direct correlation between the amount of sedentary time and cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk, regardless of baseline measurements [20]. Thus, increase in physical activity will decrease cardiometabolic risk factors [8]. Several studies indicate a positive correlation between physical activity and decreased cardiometabolic risk markers [2,4,11,16]. However, we now know that an individual who is getting the recommended physical activity per day can still have a large amount of sedentary time.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (2015) (HHS), physical activity generally refers to any body movement that improves one’s health by working their muscles. Physical activity can range from walking to running to doing yoga. However, the lack of physical activity is becoming an increasingly prevalent health problem in the world today, particularly women in developing countries. Regular physical activity is vital in women’s health to prevent many of the leading causes of death linked with insufficient physical activity. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death for women around the world, accounting for one-third of deaths. Also, cardiovascular disease accounts for “half

According to Healthy People 2020, “The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PAG) released in 2008, was the first-ever publication of national guidelines for physical activity. The physical activity topics and objectives for Healthy People 2020 reflect the strong state of the science supporting the health benefits of regular physical activity among youth and adults, as identified in the PAG”, (United States Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], Healthy People 2020, 2016).

According to the American Diabetes Association (2016), more Americans die each year from diabetes than from AIDS and breast cancer combined. As a result, researchers have extensively studied the causes, treatments, and interventions for diabetes. Despite efforts to ameliorate its effects, diabetes remains a prevalent danger in society. In 2014, 7% of U.S. adults were living with diagnosed diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). In Louisiana that number was even higher - 10.4% of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes. Breaking it down by age group, however, in Louisiana 3% of people aged 18 and 44 have been diagnosed, and 15.2% of people 45-64. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015a). Several studies have predicted future rates of diabetes, both in the United States and worldwide - nearly all of these studies reached a similar conclusion: rates of diabetes will continue to rise (Boyle et al., 2001).

Insufficient physical activity is one the leading risk factors for global mortality. Physical activity not only contributes to wellbeing, it is essential for good health. Increasing physical activity levels can help prevent or manage many conditions and diseases; this includes coronary heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and obesity along with improving mental health. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), physical activity is any bodily movement by muscles that requires energy expenditure.

Obesity in the United States has more than doubled over the past four decades. Prevalence of obesity cause many other disease such as diabetes and heart issues. Obesity can be described as a health condition of a person or people of a population that have excess body fat. Diabetes is a disease related to high level of blood sugar in the blood. Obesity and diabetes are among disease that have direct relationship with each other. As obesity increase in a population, diabetes increases too. Jennifer B.Marks, Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller researches in “Obesity in America: it’s getting worse”, Roger Z. Joanne a public health provider in the Obesity Action Coalition group researches in “Obesity and type 2 Diabetes”, Eckel H. Robert, Professor of Medicine in Colorado University researches in “Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: What can be Unified and What needs to Be Individualized”, and Obesity Society group researches in “Your weight and diabetes”, mention that while obesity and diabetes have different definition in medical process, the reason why people become obese and diabetic as well as how to prevent them is same. Eating larger portion size than what the body needs , lack of physical activity, and putting foods without good quality in diet are the major reasons that people become obese.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the recommended amount of physical activity is thirty minutes per day, and many adults do not meet this minimum.6 In the past, rates of cardiovascular disease were high, as the rates of smoking were higher. As smoking is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, such as COPD, as rates of smoking fall, so will rates of cardiovascular disease. As more and more adults and children begin to realize the importance of cardiovascular exercise and avoiding cigarettes, the rate of these diseases can be expected to fall further. However, less than 30% of high school students reach the recommended amount of physical activity needed, and further intervention is therefore

Physical inactivity is an important international public health issue as the population is becoming increasingly sedentary. Physical activity is any bodily movement that is produced by the skeletal muscles and requires energy expenditure. It is important in everyday life as it is essential for growth and development. Physical activity produces progressive health benefits since avoiding a sedentary life will decrease the chances of obesity and sedentary death syndrome. Furthermore, daily physical activity will lead one to become physically fit which will allow them the freedom to do everyday tasks without a problem. However, not everyone can be physically active as some populations encounter barriers that prevent them from being active.

As obesity has shown to reach epidemic proportions not only in developed regions but even in developing countries, this study has been conducted to understand the relationships between energy, activity levels and carbohydrate intake (WHO, 2000). Personal data collected reflected that in comparison, the subject’s EE was consistently greater that the EI over the two experimental days, therefore the output was greater than that of the consumed categorising the subject as active and as their body mass index (BMI) was calculated to be at 20g/m2 , the subject was categorised as healthy (Lyons et al., 2012). With the percentage energy intake from protein being 17%, fats 33% and carbohydrates 47%, the subject was within the range of the