

‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬

‫جامعة الباحة‬
‫كلية العلوم الطبية التطبيقية‬

measurement of
healthy and
weight
made by :
mohammed
saeed jomaan al
zahrani

ID Number :

measurement of healthy and weight

Maintain, Don’t Gain

 Maintaining a healthy weight is important for health. In

addition to lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke,
diabetes, and high blood pressure, it can also lower the risk
of many different cancers.

 Move more, eat less. Turning off the television and

skipping the sugary drinks are two ways to get started.

Your weight, your waist size, and the amount of weight gained
since your mid-20s can have serious health implications.
These factors can strongly influence your chances of
developing the following diseases and conditions:

 Cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke

 Diabetes

 Cancer

 Arthritis

 Gallstones

 Asthma

 Cataracts

 Infertility

 Snoring

 Sleep apnea

If your weight is in the healthy range and isn’t more than 10

pounds over what you weighed when you turned 21, focus on
maintaining that weight by watching what you eat and
exercising.

Because most adults between the ages of 18 and 49 gain 1-2

pounds each year (1), stopping and preventing weight gain
should be a priority. Gaining weight as you age increases the
chances of developing one or more chronic diseases.

 In the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals

Follow-up Study, middle-aged women and men who gained
11 to 22 pounds after age 20 were up to three times more
likely to develop heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2
diabetes, and gallstones than those who gained five pounds
or fewer.

 Those who gained more than 22 pounds had an even

larger risk of developing these diseases. (2-6)

 Another analysis of Nurses’ Health Study data found that

adult weight gain—even after menopause—can increase the
risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. (7)

 Encouragingly, for women who had never used hormone

replacement therapy, losing weight after menopause—and
keeping it off—cut their risk of post-menopausal breast
cancer in half.

Does Being Overweight Reduce Mortality?

You may have seen news coverage of a study claiming that

being overweight and obese may reduce mortality (8, 9) but a
panel of experts discussed why the general public should not
rely on these flawed study findings.

 The main flaw of this study is that the normal weight

group, which showed an increased mortality risk compared
to the overweight group, included more heavy smokers,
patients with cancer or other diseases that cause weight
loss, and elderly people suffering from frailty. There was no
distinction made between these unhealthy normal weight
 people and lean healthy individuals. The overweight and
obese groups did appear to have a lower mortality rate than
this mix of healthy and very unhealthy normal weighted
individuals, and this flaw led to false conclusions that
overweight and grade 1 obesity carry no risk and may offer
reduced mortality.

View the February 20, 2013 webcast of the panel presented by

the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public
Health: Does Being Overweight Really Reduce Mortality?

Read more about this study in our “Ask the Expert” with Dr.
Walter Willett.

What Causes Weight Gain?

1. Diet: The quantity and quality of food in your diet has a

strong impact on weight.

2. Genes: Some people are genetically predisposed to gain

weight more easily than others or to store fat around the
midsection.

Genes do not have to become destiny, however, and studies

suggest that eating a healthy diet, staying active, and avoiding
unhealthy habits like drinking soda can prevent the genetic
predisposition to risk for obesity. (10)

Read more about genetic risk for obesity on the Obesity

Prevention Source.

3. Physical inactivity: Exercising has a host of health benefits,

including reducing the chances of developing heart disease,
some types of cancer, and other chronic diseases. (11)
Physical activity is a key element of weight control and health.

4. Sleep: Research suggests that there’s a link between how

much people sleep and how much they weigh. In general,
children and adults who get too little sleep tend to weigh more
than those who get enough sleep. (12, 13)

 For example, in the Nurses’ Health Study, researchers

followed roughly 60,000 women for 16 years. At the start of
the study, all of the women were healthy, and none were
obese; 16 years later, women who slept 5 hours or less per
night had a 15 percent higher risk of becoming obese,
compared to women who slept 7 hours per night. Short
sleepers also had 30 percent higher risk of gaining 30
pounds over the course of the study, compared to women
who got 7 hours of sleep per night.

There are several possible ways that sleep deprivation could

increase the chances of becoming obese.

 Sleep-deprived people may be too tired to exercise,

decreasing the “calories burned” side of the weight-change
equation.

 People who don’t get enough sleep may take in more

calories than those who do, simply because they are awake
longer and have more opportunities to eat.

 Lack of sleep also disrupts the balance of key hormones

that control appetite, so sleep-deprived people may be
hungrier than those who get enough rest each night.

Read more about sleep and obesity.

References:

1. NIH, N.H.L., and Blood Institute November 29, 2010.

2. Rimm, E.B., et al., Body size and fat distribution as
predictors of coronary heart disease among middle-aged and
older US men. Am J Epidemiol, 1995. 141(12): p. 1117-27.
3. Willett, W.C., et al., Weight, weight change, and coronary
heart disease in women. Risk within the ‘normal’ weight
range. JAMA, 1995. 273(6): p. 461-5.
4. Colditz, G.A., et al., Weight gain as a risk factor for clinical
diabetes mellitus in women. Ann Intern Med, 1995. 122(7): p.
481-6.
5. Huang, Z., et al., Body weight, weight change, and risk for
hypertension in women. Ann Intern Med, 1998. 128(2): p. 81-8.
6. Maclure, K.M., et al., Weight, diet, and the risk of
symptomatic gallstones in middle-aged women. N Engl J Med,
1989. 321(9): p. 563-9.
7. Eliassen, A.H., et al., Adult weight change and risk of
postmenopausal breast cancer. JAMA, 2006. 296(2): p. 193-
201.
8. Flegal, K.M., et al., Cause-specific excess deaths associated
with underweight, overweight, and obesity. JAMA, 2007.
298(17): p. 2028-37.
9. Flegal, K.M., et al., Association of all-cause mortality with
overweight and obesity using standard body mass index
categories: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA,
2013. 309(1): p. 71-82.
10. Qi, Q., et al., Sugar-sweetened beverages and genetic risk
of obesity. N Engl J Med, 2012. 367(15): p. 1387-96.
11. Haskell, W.L., 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): p. 1423-34.
12. Patel, S.R. and F.B. Hu, Short sleep duration and weight
gain: a systematic review. Obesity (Silver Spring), 2008. 16(3):
p. 643-53.
13. Patel, S.R., et al., Association between reduced sleep and
weight gain in women. Am J Epidemiol, 2006. 164(10): p. 947-
54.