One of the most important factors that troubles most of us is the increase in weight. While modern life provides many conveniences in human life, it also causes important health problems such as obesity.
How should obesity be defined? 20% above a person's ideal weight is called obesity. What is the ideal weight here? Although some personal factors play a role in determining the ideal weight, the most important criterion is body mass index. This is generally called BMI in Turkish and BMI in English.
Calculating BMI is very easy. BMI value can be found by dividing body weight (kg) by the square of our height in meters.
The obesity evaluation of people according to their body mass index is written below,
Normal weight: BMI must be below 25,
Overweight: BMI is between 25-30,
Fat: People with BMI are between 30-35,
Overweight: BMI is over 35,
The World Health Organization accepts obesity as a disease and one of the most important targets in preventive medicine is weight loss. It emphasizes that the fight against the increase in
Today, obesity has become an important health problem not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. Today, approximately one billion people in the world are either overweight or obese.
One of the negative developments observed recently is the rapid increase in the number of obese children. Approximately 10% of children around the world are classified as obese. The fight against obesity, which can cause serious health problems in future generations, should be started from childhood.
Obesity plays a role as an important risk factor in many diseases. If we list these diseases:
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Hypertension,
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Diabetes,
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Calcification and deformities in the joints,
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Fatty liver,
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Breathing disorders during sleep (Apnea etc.),
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Gallbladder diseases,
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Cardiovascular diseases,
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Brain diseases such as stroke,
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Kidney diseases,
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Some types of cancer (breast, colon, kidney, prostate cancers),
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Diseases accompanied by psychological and social problems,
Now let's talk about the relationship between high blood pressure and obesity. One of the most important risk factors that cause high blood pressure is excessive weight gain. The following question may come to mind here. Can high blood pressure develop immediately in people who gain weight in a short time? No, it does not develop immediately, but if there is existing hypertension, the severity of blood pressure may increase and it may become difficult to control it with medication. However, people with normal blood pressure are more likely to develop high blood pressure if they remain obese for a long time. There is no specific opinion about the time when hypertension develops in obese people. The risk of high blood pressure increases in people who remain obese for at least five years. Many people can control their blood pressure simply by losing weight.
Now the following question will come to your mind: "Okay, but there are many fat people around me, why don't their blood pressures be high?".
Good question. Let's answer it right away. Many factors play a role in the development of high blood pressure. Obesity is one of the leading risk factors, but it is not the only factor. Factors other than obesity may play a role in the development of blood pressure in other people.
Still, there is one point I want to emphasize. Studies show that blood pressure rises from time to time in a significant portion of obese people whose blood pressure is normal, and that these people are in the prehypertension, that is, pre-hypertension phase. In other words, these patients are candidates for high blood pressure.
How does obesity cause hypertension? Let's write down the proposed mechanisms in order:
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Vessel resistance is high in obese people. Excess fatty tissue means too thin capillaries. The presence of excess capillaries goes along with the increase in vascular resistance and therefore the increase in blood pressure. become a resistance It is happening. As a result of insulin resistance, the insulin hormone increases in the blood. Insulin hormone reduces the excretion of salt in urine. In addition, the vasodilator effect of insulin works in the opposite way in these patients, causing vasoconstriction. Increasing insulin resistance not only causes high blood pressure, but also causes diabetes and increased cholesterol.
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In obese people, water and salt retention in the body increases. Increasing the amount of salt in the body contributes significantly to high blood pressure. It has also been shown that urinary albumin loss increases in obese people. Kidney disorders are more common in obese patients with high blood pressure than in those with normal weight.
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In overweight people, the nervous system that causes constriction in the vessels, that is, the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, increases and contributes to high blood pressure.
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Also, There are opinions that fat cells cause high blood pressure by secreting some hormones.
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Drowsing disorders, that is, apnea, are common in obese people. Sleep apnea contributes significantly to high blood pressure
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