The Factor of Obesity

Figure 1: Percentage of obesity in Asean

Year:2017

Website:

https://penanginstitute.org/publications/issues/1029-obesity-in-malaysia-unhealthy-eating-is-as-
harmful-as-smoking/

Author:

Tim-Niklas Schoepp (Acting Head, Economic Studies Programme)

 Title:Factor of Obesity
General purpose:To inform the factor of obesity that happen in Asean which is
gradually high every year.As we know,there are many causes of obesity that can
give huge impact on our life.

I. Introduction
For this topic,there are 3 major main points about factors of obesity
which are poor in diet, lack of physical activities and emotional
effect.

II. Body
A. Poor in diet
1. Obesity does not happen overnight. It develops gradually over
time, as a result of poor diet and lifestyle choices.
2. Unhealthy eating habits tend to run in families. You may learn
bad eating habits from your parents when we're young and
continue them into adulthood.
3. If we eat a diet in which a high percentage of calories come
from sugary, high-fat, refined foods, chances are we'll gain
weight.
a. As example, eating large amounts of processed or fast food
that's high in fat and sugar.
b. Not eating fruit, vegetables and unrefined carbohydrates,
such as wholemeal bread and brown rice.
c. Food advertising encourages people to buy unhealthy
foods, such as high-fat snacks and sugary drinks.
d. So, we need to take some drastic way to maintain our
health.Like choose whole grains such as brown rice and
whole wheat bread rather than white rice and white bread.
Whole grain foods are richer in nutrients and higher in
fiber, so the body absorbs them more slowly. This means
they won't cause a rapid spike in insulin, which can trigger
hunger and cravings.
B. Lack of physical activities
1. Lack of physical activity is another important factor related to
obesity.
2. Many people have jobs that involve sitting at a desk for most
of the day.
3. They also rely on their cars, rather than walking or cycling.
4. If you're not active enough, you do not use the energy
provided by the food you eat, and the extra energy you
consume is stored by the body as fat.
a. For relaxation, many people tend to watch TV, browse the
internet or play computer games, and rarely take regular
exercise.
b. Not having area parks, sidewalks, and affordable gyms
makes it hard for people to be physically active.
c. People nowdays does not have enough time to do physical
activities due to busy on work.
d. So, to make sure everyone take a regular exercise, adults do
at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity,
such as cycling or fast walking, every week. This does not
need to be done all in a single session, but can be broken
down into smaller periods. For example, you could exercise
for 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week.This will help you
maintain a healthy weight.
e. Physical activity decreases fat around the waist and total
body fat, slowing the development of abdominal obesity.

C. Emotional effect
1. Some people eat more than usual when they are bored, angry,
upset, or stressed.
2. Studies also have found that the less people sleep, the more
likely they are to be overweight or obese.
3. This is partly because hormones that are released during sleep
control appetite and the body’s use of energy
 4. .Many cases of obesity are the result of such mental illnesses
as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
binge eating disorder, and night eating syndrome.
a. comfort eating – if you feel depressed or have low self-
esteem you may comfort eat to make yourself feel better.
b. Stress in doing overload of work can cause people tend to
eat more and eat in irregular time.
c. Depression because have problem with family, friends or
people surrounding.
d. To prevent this factor continue, we need to cure as fast as
possible.Need to meet people that can hear our problem.
e. Need enough time to get a best quality of sleep.
f. Eat healthy food to balance the emotional.

III. Conclusion
In conclusion, poor in diet, lack of physical activities and emotional
effect are the 3 major factors that influence the obesity happen.So,to
us who want healthy lifestyle, we need to take the way to prevent
being a obesity person.
 Article 1
What causes obesity & overweight?
A number of factors can play a role in weight gain. These include diet, lack
of exercise, factors in a person’s environment, and genetics. Some of these
factors are discussed briefly below. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
offers more information on the causes of overweight and obesity.
Food and Activity
People gain weight when they eat more calories than they burn through
activity. This imbalance is the greatest contributor to weight gain.
Environment
The world around us influences our ability to maintain a healthy weight. For
example:
 Not having area parks, sidewalks, and affordable gyms makes it hard for
people to be physically active.
 Oversized food portions increase Americans’ calorie intake, making even
more physical activity necessary to maintain a healthy weight.
 Some people don’t have access to supermarkets that sell affordable healthy
foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables.
 Food advertising encourages people to buy unhealthy foods, such as high-
fat snacks and sugary drinks.1
Genetics
Research shows that genetics plays a role in obesity. Genes can directly
cause obesity in such disorders as Prader-Willi syndrome.
Genes also may contribute to a person’s susceptibility to weight gain.
Scientists believe that genes may increase a person’s likelihood of
becoming obese but that outside factors, such as an abundant food supply
or little physical activity, also may be required for a person to put on excess
weight.
Health Conditions and Medications
 Some hormone problems may cause overweight and obesity, such as
underactive thyroid, Cushing syndrome and polycystic ovary syndrome
(PCOS).Certain medicines also may cause weight gain, including some
corticosteroids, antidepressants, and seizure medicines.
Stress, Emotional Factors, and Poor Sleep
Some people eat more than usual when they are bored, angry, upset, or
stressed.Studies also have found that the less people sleep, the more likely they
are to be overweight or obese. This is partly because hormones that are released
during sleep control appetite and the body’s use of energy.

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/obesity/conditioninfo/cause
 Article 2
What Causes Obesity?
On the surface, the cause of obesity seems simple: if you consume more
calories than you burn as energy through physical activity, then you'll gain weight.
But like many things, the simple explanation is often incomplete.
The risk factors that contribute to obesity can be a complex combination of
genetics, socioeconomic factors, metabolic factors and lifestyle choices, among
other things. Some endocrine disorders, diseases and medications can also cause
weight to increase.
Common factors influencing obesity
Genetics – Studies have shown that you can inherit a tendency toward obesity.
Your chance of being overweight increases 25 percent if one or both of your
parents is obese. Heredity also strongly influences where you carry weight – the
hips or around the middle.
Metabolic – How you expend energy differs from how someone else will.
Metabolic and hormonal factors are not the same for everyone, but these factors
play a role in determining weight gain. Recent studies show that levels of ghrelin,
a peptide hormone known to regulate appetite, and other peptides in the
stomach, play a role in triggering hunger and giving you a feeling of fullness after
eating.
Lifestyle – Overeating in combination with a sedentary lifestyle, contributes to
obesity. Changing your behavior can affect these lifestyle choices. If you eat a diet
in which a high percentage of calories come from sugary, high-fat, refined foods,
chances are you'll gain weight. As more American families eat on the go and
people look for low-cost options, more people reach for high-calorie and -fat
foods and beverages like fast food.Couple that with a lack of regular exercise and
it becomes very difficult for adults to maintain or lose weight. For children,
activities that don't expend energy, such as watching television or sitting at a
computer, contribute to obesity.
https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/healthy-
living/obesity/causes.html
 Article 3
Exercise Can Help Control Weight
Obesity results from energy imbalance: too many calories in, too few
calories burned. A number of factors influence how many calories (or how much
“energy”) people burn each day, among them, age, body size, and genes. But the
most variable factor-and the most easily modified-is the amount of activity people
get each day.
Keeping active can help people stay at a healthy weight or lose weight. It
can also lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure,
osteoporosis, and certain cancers, as well as reduce stress and boost mood.
Inactive (sedentary) lifestyles do just the opposite.
Despite all the health benefits of physical activity, people worldwide are
doing less of it-at work, at home, and as they travel from place to place. Globally,
about one in three people gets little, if any, physical activity. (1) Physical activity
levels are declining not only in wealthy countries, such as the U.S., but also in low-
and middle-income countries, such as China. And it’s clear that this decline in
physical activity is a key contributor to the global obesity epidemic, and in turn, to
rising rates of chronic disease everywhere.
The World Health Organization, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human
Services, and other authorities recommend that for good health, adults should get
the equivalent of two and a half hours of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
each week. (2–4) Children should get even more, at least one hour a day. There’s
been some debate among researchers, however, about just how much activity
people need each day to maintain a healthy weight or to help with weight loss,
and the most recent studies suggest that a total of two and a half hours a week is
simply not enough.
This article defines physical activity and explains how it is measured,
reviews physical activity trends, and discusses the role of physical activity in
weight control.
How Much Activity Do People Need to Prevent Weight Gain?
 Weight gain during adulthood can increase the risk of heart disease,
diabetes, and other chronic conditions. Since it’s so hard for people to lose weight
and keep it off, it’s better to prevent weight gain in the first place. Encouragingly,
there’s strong evidence that staying active can help people slow down or stave off
“middle-age spread”: (13) The more active people are, the more likely they are to
keep their weight steady; (15,16) the more sedentary, the more likely they are to
gain weight over time. (17) But it’s still a matter of debate exactly how much
activity people need to avoid gaining weight. The latest evidence suggests that
the recommended two and a half hours a week may not be enough.
The Women’s Health Study, for example, followed 34,000 middle-age
women for 13 years to see how much physical activity they needed to stay within
5 pounds of their weight at the start of the study. Researchers found that women
in the normal weight range at the start needed the equivalent of an hour a day of
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to maintain a steady weight. (18)
Vigorous activities seem to be more effective for weight control than slow
walking. (15,19,20) The Nurses’ Health Study II, for example, followed more than
18,000 women for 16 years to study the relationship between changes in physical
activity and weight. Although women gained, on average, about 20 pounds over
the course of the study, those who increased their physical activity by 30 minutes
per day gained less weight than women whose activity levels stayed steady. And
the type of activity made a difference: Bicycling and brisk walking helped women
avoid weight gain, but slow walking did not.
How Does Activity Prevent Obesity?
Researchers believe that physical activity prevents obesity in multiple
ways.Physical activity increases people’s total energy expenditure, which can help
them stay in energy balance or even lose weight, as long as they don’t eat more
to compensate for the extra calories they burn.Physical activity decreases fat
around the waist and total body fat, slowing the development of abdominal
obesity.
Weight lifting, push-ups, and other muscle-strengthening activities build
muscle mass, increasing the energy that the body burns throughout the day-even
when it’s at rest-and making it easier to control weight.
 Physical activity reduces depression and anxiety, and this mood boost may
motivate people to stick with their exercise regimens over time.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-
causes/physical-activity-and-obesity/