Obesity has been flagged as ‘the most pressing health problem we face” in America these days. Statistics have even indicated that at least 3 out of every 5 Americans are overweight and that 1 in every 5 person is obese. The irony about obesity is that even the slightest and the most mundane things you do can trigger it, so in this article today, I will be explaining to you how some of the things you do can contribute towards making you obese.
1. Drinking diet sodas
Most people think that drinking diet sodas will in some way prevent them from gaining weight, but the reality is quite the opposite. Although most of these diet sodas are supposedly free of calories – they contain artificial sweeteners and apart from causing obesity, some studies have shown a link between diet sodas and an increase in the risk of ‘metabolic syndrome’, diabetes and other heart related diseases.
2. Poor sleeping lifestyle
A poor sleeping routine will also contribute towards becoming obese. You need to understand that those people that sleep and those who don’t sleep enough, generally burn the same amount of calories; but a research at the St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital explained that while the amount of calories burnt may be the same, the amount of calories consumed the during the subsequent day is far more for the person who had gotten less sleep than for the person who slept enough, which is roughly around 7 to 9 hours. So you should do your best to get around 8 hours of undisturbed sleep every night in order to reduce the chances of becoming obese.
3. Hanging around over-weight people
This is not meant to offend anyone, but being around overweight folks frequently & regularly will make it likely that you will also become overweight like them in a short amount of time. The New England journal of Medicine revealed (through a study) that individuals who have very close friends that are obese are at a “171 percent higher chance of becoming obese too.” The reason being that we are generally and often sub-consciously influenced by our friends & peers. So if they overeat, there is a higher tendency of you following the same trend. Besides, you know the old proverbial saying: “show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.”
4. Being Pro-plastic
Being pro-plastic here connotes always using plastic-made containers to store your food items or water. Researchers have revealed that most plastics contain phthalates – a chemical that has been shown to contribute to becoming obese.
5. Uncontrolled Stress
Uncontrolled stress can give rise to obesity – because it causes a spike in your body’s production of cortisol and insulin, which in turn increases your appetite to eat more food.
6. Failure to check the details about your medications
Studies have also strongly indicated that certain types of medications or pharmaceutical drugs have side effects that cause weight gain. An example of these types of drugs are contraceptive drugs, diabetes medication, antipsychotics and antidepressants.
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