Overweight Today, Disabled Tomorrow?
Study: Overweight in Young Life Triples Likelihood of Mobility Issues in Older Life
Being overweight in young life can contribute to mobility issues later in life.
Establishing a healthy lifestyle while young is so important. It sets up a healthy habit that we’ll continue to live by throughout our life (remember, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior); it ensures that we won’t fall victim to the smorgasbord of diseases and illnesses that are linked with obesity; and it gives us a sense of accomplishment that all of us need to be truly happy.
But it also helps reduce the likelihood that we won’t have a string of mobility issues later in life – at least that’s what a recent study has concluded.Â
I think if there’s one thing I dread most about old age, it’s not being able to move around as freely as I can now. Being in my early 30s, I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for the once spry to now be tied to walkers, wheel chairs, and canes.
Some problems with mobility are unavoidable, as in those who were quite active, but for circumstances beyond their control, they’re now held hostage by the aforementioned mobility assistants. But for others, mobility issues could have been avoided if they hadn’t been so torpid in their salad days.
According to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, 20somethings that struggled with weight gain throughout their 20s and into their middle-aged years greatly increase their chances of walking with walkers and canes by their 70s.
The researchers came to this conclusion after reviewing health information statistics from people averaging 74 years of age. All of them were healthy and free of any life-threatening illnesses at the start of the seven-year study.Â
Through a series of follow-ups, many of the participants’ bodies began to break down. This is a natural thing, of course, but the researchers found an interesting corollary when they asked about their struggles with weight in their younger years.
What they found was that among women with mobility issues, they were three times more likely to develop them if they were overweight in their 50s, despite being thin in their 70s. The same was true for men, only they were twice as likely.Â
Researchers defined “mobility issues” as not being able to walk a quarter-mile without struggling.
The study is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
These results could very well prove to be a harbinger of what’s to come. The focus on convenience has never been more prevalent than it is today (e.g. elevators, convenience food, fast food, television watching, video gaming, etc.) and in a population where approximately 65 percent are overweight or obese, we could be headed for a disability rate of seismic proportions.
To paraphrase the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Denise Houston, an intervention of sorts may be required to stifle the forthcoming cavalcade of injuries, disabilities, and handicaps in the next 10, 20 and 30 years.
I’m not sure what it that intervention will be or what it will take, but in the meantime, do yourself a favor and form your own personal intervention. Make healthy living a priority: not simply for your present health, but for the sake of your future mobility.
Source:
ScienceDaily
Related Posts
No related posts.
 
|
Enjoy this article? We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will NEVER be rented, traded or sold. |
Visit my new site: Self Help On The Web
 |
 |
Posted: April 13th, 2009 under Obesity.
Tags: mobility issues
Comments
Comment from stuartlubin
Time April 15, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Although it is phrased as a question, there is no doubt that you believe in negative, scare warnings to get people to be slim and to live healthier lives.
The fact of the matter is that, even if you stay away from fast food places and convenience stores, it is still very difficult to find healthful food in a supermarket. Every prepared soup has an unbelievable over abundance of sodium in it. The only way is to go to a health food store and pay twice as much for sodium-free soup, or make it from scratch. Natural foods are adulterated; genetically modified foods are all over; meats, poultry, etc. have been given hormones and antibiotics. What about people who cannot lose weight, no matter what they do because of hidden
substances in the food? Address those problems. They are real!
Comment from gerardine
Time April 15, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Over the years, I exercised, I was a runner, and I ran daily between two and five miles. I ate right; healthy foods, fruits, vegetables, the occasional sweets, within moderation. I kept my weight at a healthy range, I had low body fat. In 2004 I was hurt at work, twice, due to my physical strength, people looked at me oddly. You can’t be hurt! My job fired me; they couldn’t accommodate my work injury.
Then, my husband, who practiced martial arts for over twenty years, was hit by a car, on the express way by a young girl talking on a cell phone; as she drove her car well over the speed limit. Everyone else was in her way. His life changed.
We both found out that lawyers don’t help! The courts don’t help! The doctors don’t help! Everyone is out to help themselves. Leaving the cripple person wondering what they did wrong. Oh, in McHenry, Illinois, accidents happen. Ooops, you’re screwed!
Yes, exercise did help. We didn’t end up in at wheel chair yesterday, or today. Tomorrow is still to be written.
The main problem we ran into is the health industry in our state is sadly lacking. My first Physical therapist was fifty pounds over weight. She read a women’s magazine while showing me how to perform pelvic tilts, then she had me pick up boxes- the right way. My job was a Marketing Assistant; I wasn’t even supposed to be lifting anything at work.
Try and tell a doctor you have bad reactions to pain meds.
I know this Blog is about weight gain. If I had been fat, and out of shape; maybe I wouldn’t have been threaten so easily at my job into lifting boxes, instead, I would have let them fire me.
And my husband would never have gotten off the couch and been in that car. Today, he could have been fat, happy and not having daily seizures.
Comment from gigi
Time April 16, 2009 at 10:28 pm
To answer Stuart – I buy mostly organic food but you can also make healthy choices in a regular supermarket. Yes you have to watch what you buy but you are much too negative….shop the perimeter of the store – the produce sections and the dairy case and the meat and fish etc etc are your best bets. The fruits and veggies may not be organic but they are much better than canned or processed ones made with sugar and salt and other ingredients you want to avoid. Even frozen veggies are a good choice. Keep away from the aisles that have the processed foods….read labels – learn which brands are purer than others…..there are more and more “natural” unadulterated products now then ever before because of consumer demand. Check the organic food section for soups with low (or no) sodium and only natural ingredients. Learn to cook easy and quick recipes at home – you will be healthier and happier for it. I have been a “health food nut” for most of my adult life – and it is much easier to make healthy choices now than ever before. When you leave out the junk food and the potato chips and the cookies, you will find your food bills are not much higher even if you buy “organic”. Good luck.
Comment from stuartlubin
Time April 17, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Thank you, Gigi. I am a health nut too. I have been interested in better health through lifestyle since 1949!!! I have since become interested in the fungal connection to illness. I maintain the anti-fungal diet. I eat no grains and I am very low on the sugars.
I admit that I am negative. When I look around me and see how the drug, medical, and food industry have given us very few choices, I am negative because reality tells me that I have nothing to be a Pollyanna about.
My motivation in writing was to criticize Frank for writing about overweight when he never addressed the fact that eating and exercise (calorie counting) are not the only factors involved in obesity. Stuart