How does obesity effect everyone's health?

Hello. I am Dr. Ananya Iyre, consulting obstetrician and gynecologist at Ayu health hospitals. Today I am here to discuss a very important topic “Obesity in women”. What is obesity? Obesity is a Greek word called obeses which means excessive fat. So, there is excessive fat deposition in the body which leads to an abnormality in your health and in your general well-being. So, when do you say a person is obese? In women, obesity is calculated by the BMI or the Body Mass Index. A BMI of 18-25 is considered normal. When a woman crosses a BMI of 25-30, she is said to be overweight and a BMI more than 30 is considered as obese. So, when your BMI crosses 30, you are called obese. How does one get obese? Obesity can be acquired generally from birth or it could be because of endocrine problems like hypothyroid issues or Cushing’s syndrome. But more so, in today’s generation obesity is because of environmental factors, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, excessive stress, and consumption of drugs are a few ways because of which people are getting obese in today’s generation. So, how does obesity affect one’s health? Talking about obesity in women, obesity in women can affect different age groups. Obesity can be there in adolescent young girls in whom there can be a lot of excess weight according to causing body disfigurement, and lack of confidence. So, they can attain early menarche or late menarche, or a delayed period. There can be period irregularities or abnormalities. There can be excessive hair growth, skin changes in condition which are called PCOD or Polycystic Ovarian Disease and in younger women or the reproductive age women obesity can lead to again continued problems in her cycle that can be an issue with reproduction where there can be infertility further causing a need for assisted or artificial reproductive techniques. There can be gynecological problems like excessive bleeding during periods, endometrial polyps, and breast tumors that need surgical intervention and medical correction. In the older age group patients, obesity can cause osteoporosis that can be excessive bleeding, that can be early or delayed menopause and other causes like bladder discomfort. Obese patients tend to have an irritable bladder where there can be incontinence in urine and this can lead to general stress. In elderly women, there can be a urinary disturbance because of obesity which can lead to urinary incontinence and this altered lifestyle causes stress and lifestyle problems in older patients. So, in all these patients, obesity needs to be addressed at the right time and at the right age. So, how can obesity be managed? Obesity management is teamwork. It needs cooperation both from the patient side and teamwork including a dietician, exercise management and if needed medicines which your doctor will prescribe to control your appetite to reduce your insulin sensitivity which is seen in obesity. So the take-home message in obesity is that you need to address it right from the beginning, you need to have a good lifestyle, a good diet habit, keep exercise as a routine in the day to day practices, cut down on your calories and try to tackle obesity at the earliest and lead a healthy lifestyle. Thank you.