Obesity is a serious health problem in the United States. More and more people are diagnosed with obesity, which affects their everyday living habits and general social demeanor. Obesity is simply an extreme form of overweight. According to the World Health Organization (2021), obesity is a condition where an individual has accumulated a lot of body fat that has a detrimental effect on their health. In the United States, nearly one in three adults (30.7%) are overweight; more than two of every five Americans (42.4%) have obesity; about one in eleven adults (9.2%) are severely obese (Fryar et al., 2018). Obesity lowers the quality of life, causes death, and severely affects society and the economy. Three leading causes of death in the US today – diabetes, cancer, and heart disease – are directly risk-related to obesity.
>The health risks of obesity are overt and noticeable across the modern world. It increases the mortality rate and, in general, has lasting effects on societies in different ways. The direct effect of obesity is death. The main goals of healthcare are to prevent premature death and disability, advance high-quality life, and promote self-development and happiness towards an acceptable or good death. Obesity, being a direct result of lifestyle choices, is a critical challenge in healthcare as a whole. Obesity also has social and emotional effects. It predisposes victims to discrimination, lower wages (this due to the inability to work in the same capacity as others), lower quality of life, and a higher susceptibility to depression.
In a society where internet bullying and other forms of discrimination occur, obese individuals find themselves receiving trolls an
attacks. The social and emotional effects of obesity are self-compounding in a ripple effect. The reduced physical activity due to obesity causes the victims to avoid social activities further. The effects of isolation include increased vulnerability to emotional abuse and even more weight gain. From a structural-functionalist perspective, obesity has a massive effect on society: the economy, quality of social life, and military defense. The healthcare costs of obesity are cut from the country’s economy.
As a result, there is a strain at the medical facilities due to obesity-related diseases, mostly morbid and mortal. In a pandemic-infested world with many other more challenging diseases, obesity has massively adverse effects on healthcare provision and the economy. Resources are naturally limited, which means that country has to source from its scarce resources to treat obesity and other diseases related to it, advocate for safer lifestyles, and manage the effects of obesity on individuals and society. In conclusion, obesity is a global issue that affects almost everyone today, either directly or indirectly. Despite the challenges such as death, low quality of life, and strain on the economy, the United States can still prevent obesity.
It is an individual and collective responsibility to tackle obesity. The basic solution to obesity is following the ever resonating measures; practicing healthy eating and exercising. The goal of reducing premature death and increasing well-being and happiness is a multifaceted task and involves every individual.
