Why Obesity Has Risen So Rapidly in the Last 40 Years and The Health Problems It Creates

The obesity rate in America is going up rapidly and something that has a lot of physicians quite concerned. The medical community are guessing some states will have a rate of half of their residents being obese by the year 2011. This was never a problem forty years ago and a lot of our society lifestyle changes are to blame for this highly rising obesity rate going up. Obesity causes many problems like heart attacks, diabetes, hip and Rockford knee pain, hypertension and high cholesterol. The lack of physical movement and increase in being sedentary is also causing new health problems such as Rockford carpal tunnel syndrome from typing at a computer all day, high BMI factor with more fat percentage than muscle on a person, and poor posture from being hunched over the computer or lying around all day.

The rate of obesity in the United States back in the 1960′s was at 13% and by the year 2000, it was at a whopping 31% with educated guesses of it reaching to 50% of the population in some states in the next few years. Being overweight, obese or morbidly obese which is over 100 pounds over your normal weight is causing a large number of health issues in Americans. One of the largest problems has to do with the heart and diabetes. Being so overweight can cause a lot of strain on your heart and if you are eating high fat foods everyday this will clog all of your arteries leading to your heart putting you at a high risk for a heart attack or heart disease.

Diabetes is also a problem due to the rise in obesity in this nation. In the past it was unusual to see a child with diabetes related to weight gain as it was typically a health problem that plagued overweight adults. Now, children are being diagnosed with this adult onset type of diabetes because they are so overweight. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are the frequent need to urinate, dry skin, blurry eyesight, numbness and tingling in the extremities and extreme fatigue. If left untreated, it could be fatal.

With so many people spending all day at their computers for work or for fun, there are new issues that are increasing from that and being inactive. A large rise in carpal tunnel syndrome has occurred from typing at a keyboard all day long causing a strain on this part of the hands. This was not a problem back in the 60′s and 70′s and now is a very common issue. Also being overweight and not active has caused a many people to have pain in their joints, especially their knees and hips. That extra weight is putting a lot of pressure on the joints and the lack of exercise leaves no muscle strength to support these joints to be strong.

The need to {stop|reverse] this obesity epidemic is urgent with more and more people suffering serious health problems from their unhealthy lifestyles.