Obesity

Obesity Due to Lack of Cardio-Respiratory

There is an increasing trend occurring in the United States today. The sizes of food and belt buckles are growing at an enormous rate. "Do what tastes right", is becoming a common mentality of the American public. Obesity has now become part of one third of the populations' life. So why does is obesity still increasing at a tremendous rate?

In 1985, the International Obesity Task Force deemed the prevalence of obesity an epidemic.1 In society today about two thirds of people are overweight and one third are obese about fifteen percent of the teenagers are obese also.2 You don't need the International Obesity Task Force to tell you that obesity is an epidemic, you see it everyday. All you have to do is turn on the T.V. and you will see plenty of advertisements for fast food that everybody loves. Another factor is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (1983 vs. 1998), more people today are spending time in office-related jobs and more hours at work.3 America has become wealthy and technology keeps advancing, it's obvious that people are becoming overweight because of these factors. Often, people blame "bad genetics" on obesity but in reality they just need to exercise more. Fast food restaurants are on every corner and in many peoples eyes it's cheaper to go eat there than to go buy the groceries and prepare it yourself.

Another factor to figure in is how obesity simply affects our economy. U.S. healthcare expenditure linked to obesity may exceed $6 billion per year. Researchers from Columbia University in New York City said that 4.32 percent of all direct healthcare costs over the period of life from 20 to 85 can be attributed to obesity. (American Journal of Public Health). Modern way of life encourages too little physical activity and diets with a high caloric intake. If everyone would just have sensible eating habits and be a little more physically active every day, then obesity wouldn't be on such a dramatic rise. Some studies have shown an increase in colon cancer directly related with obesity. Of work-related injuries, 43 percent are sprains and strains and more than 60 percent involve the trunk.16 More than 80 percent of Americans have suffered from back problems; 80,000 to100,000 ACL injuries occur annually in the U.S. and about 70 percent of those being non contact injuries. Some say obesity is the biggest health epidemic since tobacco. Overweight and physical inactivity account for more than 300,000 premature deaths each year in the U.S., second only to tobacco related deaths. (http://www.cdc.gov/OD/OC/MEDIA/pressrel/r991026.htm)

In school there used to be a high requirement for being in physical education, now more and more schools are taking them out of our schools and wonder why obesity in children is rising exponentially. Society is becoming more health conscious but it seems