Why are Americans Rapidly Becoming More Obese

Obesity and its Impact

Obesity is described as a medical disorder in which a person’s body fat accumulates at a growing pace, causing them to become overweight. Overweight is described as having a weight that is 20% higher than the ideal weight. An optimal weight takes into account a person’s gender, age, build, and height. Cases of coronary heart disease have soared in the United States of America over the past few decades as a result of an increasing number of obese people. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Poll, more than 39 percent of American adults are obese. Also, over 18% of youth were found to be obese. Although there is no significant increase in the number of cases of obesity in the United States, it remains an issue of concern. Obesity is still rampant among children and adults despite the government_x0092_s unrelenting efforts to control the condition across the country. There has been a misconception that all obese conditions come as a result of poor feeding. However, this is not the case as research from different categories of experts has indicated that there are other factors influencing fat accumulation in our bodies.

Factors Contributing to Obesity in the United States

Among the factors that increase cases of obesity in the United States include the omnipresence of processed foods, lack of universal healthcare, lack of exercise, poor sleeping habits, continuous stress, illness, poor balance between work and social life, and lack of quality life due to increasing poverty level among the people (Dawes 32). According to the latest observations, most Americans refer to use modern means of transport as opposed to traditional means such as walking from home to work and cycling. Moreover, the introduction of modern games to children has made them concentrate more on deskbound games which do not engage them to run around. Therefore, with the increase in calorie intake and fewer exercises, it would imply that chances of obesity are high.

The Role of Stress and Illness

Stress is considered as one of the major issues affecting Americans. The increase of competition in the job markets and academic fields contributes to long hours of working and consequently, anxiety. Stress is a major factor that causes an upsurge in weight. Conferring to a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, it was found that individuals at lower income level were likely to comfort themselves through consumption of food more than those at a high standard of revenue. Other forms of illness can make an individual acquire increased levels of appetite. Such disease may include depression and nerve pain (Bissonnette and David 78). The patients are prescribed with certain medications that may cause an increase in weight. However, it is worthwhile to note that in some people, depression may cause them to lose appetite.

Impact of Work-Life Balance

The balance between work and social life among Americans has been one of the doubting tasks to control. When people are given leave, they are not capable of dividing their time between family and personal experiences such as exercising. The gap between work and social life has increased to such extends that most people do not have time for themselves to either walk around or have some form of exercises hence leading to the rapid growth in obesity cases.

The Affordable Care Act and Access to Healthcare

Despite the introduction of the Affordable Care Act by the government in 2010, there are still a large number of American citizens who are not insured. The Act advocates for people to get screened and counsel for obesity. The Act tries to offer access to better healthcare and solutions on how to avoid such cases as obesity (Bissonnette and David 68). However, with millions of Americans uninsured, it becomes almost impossible to control the situation as the act offers the services to insured persons from plan to plan.

Influence of Junk Food Industry

The owners of the junk food companies are lobbying for the survival of their businesses due to the profits they are making at the expense of the health condition of the Americans. Research has shown that junk foods contribute to a large extent to the cases of obesity among children and adults in America (Dawes 54). However, due to the influence of powerful lobbyists within the country, it is not possible to abolish or reduce the production of junk foods. The lobbyists have gone a step further to avert food stamp benefits from excluding junk foods that mostly contribute to cases of obesity.

Towards a Solution

The reasons behind the rapid increase of obesity cases in the United States have been misunderstood for many years. The reasons why most people are gaining weight are involved. Therefore, nutrition departments can better understand that the problems associated with obesity do not only depend on the feeding habits of the people but rather on a compound number of issues. The discovery of these matters will eventually reduce the cases of obesity in the United States. Although the reduction in the number of cases will not be rapid, the change will ultimately come (Dawes 42). To accelerate the process of weight reduction among the citizens, communities should ensure that they build playground areas for their children and discourage virtual games. Lastly, community health professionals should play a significant role in educating the public on the dangers and risks of gaining weight and the benefits of healthy living.

Works Cited

Bissonnette, David, and David Wasylik. Obesity in America: A National Crisis. New York: Films Media Group : Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2012. Print.

Dawes, Laura. Childhood Obesity in America: Biography of an Epidemic. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014. Print.