Question

Energy Balance and Activity

Research shows that overweight and obesity are prevalent in public health concerns. Over-consumption of foods coupled with sedentary lifestyles perpetuates this health issue. Search the library for research on the importance of the physical activity to a healthy lifestyle. Briefly discuss an article presenting scientific evidence of physical activity to health benefits.

Minimum 250 words

Answer 1

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ,FITNESS,OBESITY AND MORTALITY:

Introduction:

Obesity and overweight are considered to be leading risk factors for a number of chronic health conditions,including diabetes mellitus,hypertension,coronary artery disease and premature mortality.Obesity not only increase coronary heart disease risk directly,but also enhances on several established risk factors,including insulin resistance and hypertension.

Background:

Other prospective studies performed over the last decade have assessed the independent and joint associations between body weight ,fitness,physical activity patterns and outcomes.The findings of these studies support that both physical inactivity and excess weight are independently associated with the increased risk of cardiovascular disease.However,a consistent finding of these studies is that fitness attenuated mortality risk regardless of body weight.When stratified within a given category of body dimensions(body mass index,waist circumference or weight),subjects who are more physically active or fit consistently have a lower risk for adverse outcomes compared with those who are inactive or unfit.

Findings:

Recent epidemiological findings have also drawn attention to an inverse association between body mass index and mortality in some populations,often termed the obesity paradox. One explanation may be that individuals within the lowest body mass index category may have had undefined chronic illness,resulting in nonvolitional weight loss .This is supported by two recent report from the Veterans Affairs database.In the first report,the inverse association between body mass index and mortality observed in male veterans was attenuated when fitness levels were considered suggesting that individuals with low body weight and exervise capacity may have undetected chronic disease.In the second report,weight gain over a mean follow-up period of seven years was related to lower mortality and weight loss was related to higher mortality when compared with stable weight.