Obesity and Overweight: Causes, Impacts, and Recommendations

This assignment discusses the bio-psycho-social factors that contribute to obesity and overweight. It explores the impact of genetics, lifestyle, and social determinants on the development of obesity. The assignment also provides recommendations for healthcare professionals and the government to prevent and overcome obesity.

Running head: OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT
OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary:
Obesity and overweight has affected the nation like an epidemic. It mainly occurs
because of a sustained energy imbalance in individuals where the energy that that is taken in
during eating and drinking becomes greater than the energy expended through different
physical actions taken by the individuals throughout the day. This results in accumulation of
huge amount of calories in the body in the form of unwanted fat, which increases the body
weight of individuals above the permissible limits. Studies are of the opinion that this energy
imbalance mainly occurs being influenced by the biological and genetic characteristics of
persons along with their lifestyle factors. Besides, family history and genetics also play as
biological factors. Some of the psychological factors like stress, depression, anxiety emotions
eating, binge eating, low self-esteem, grief and bereavements contribute to risks of
development of health concerns of obesity. Social determinants like low education, lack of
health literacy, low income, unemployment, obesogenic environment also develop the
unhealthy behaviours. In order to help the nation to overcome obesity and overweight and
make it a fitter nation, healthcare professionals need to develop health education sessions for
communities. They also need to advocate about the issues to the government and approach
them with strategies that can help in mitigating the problems. The governmental and
nongovernmental professionals need to work together to help the nation overcome the
epidemic and make people live better quality lives.

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Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Bio-psycho-social factors:..........................................................................................................4
Recommendations:.....................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................9
Referencing:.............................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
Overweight and obesity can be explained as one of the major health concern in the
nation of Australia. In the year 201-2015, about 1 in every 5 accounting to about 20%
children with the age 2 to 4 and 1 in every 4 children accounting to 27% of the children
between 5 and 7 were found to be suffering from conditions of obesity and overweight issues
(Veitch et al., 2016). The prevalence of overweight and obesity had been seen to rise from
21% in the year 1995 to that of 25% in the year 2007-2008 and the rate had remained stable
until 2014-2015. In the year 2014-2015, about two third or the adults in the nation were found
to be overweight and obese which actually accounted for about 63% of adults in the nation. It
has been found that overweight and obesity had been responsible for around 7% of the total
health burden in the nation in the year 2011 with about 63% of them being fatal burden. In
the year 2011-2012, obesity was estimated to have a financial impact on the Australian
economy of about $8.6 billion (Kendall et al., 2015). Obese children remain vulnerable to
develop chronic health disorders like fractures, hypertension, breathing difficulties, insulin
resistance, as well as cardiovascular disease. Obese adults remain exposed to risks like
cancers, asthma, back pain and problems, cardiovascular disease, dementia, chronic kidney
disease, diabetes, gout, gallbladder disease, and osteoarthritis. Life expectancy of the people
living with class-one obesity is reduced by 2 to 4 years and that of class-three obesity is
reduced by 8 to 10 years in comparison to people with healthier body (Hayes et al., 2016).
This assignment would mainly be a position paper that would first be discussing about the
bio-psycho-social factors that lead to the development of this health condition. It would then
be followed by recommendations about how the disorder can be prevented for making
Australia a fitter nation.

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Bio-psycho-social factors:
The bio-psycho-social model mainly reflects the fact that development of a health
issue occurs because of complex interaction of the different biological factors that include
genetic, biochemical factors, psychological factors like that of mood, behaviours and
personality and social factors that include medical, cultural, socio-economic situations,
familial issues and others (Sainsbury et al., 2018). In order to study the contributing factors
for obesity and overweight, this approach would be adopted to develop a comprehensive idea
about the factors that need to be controlled and managed to percent obesity.
Firstly, inappropriate or excessive energy intake from foods as well as drinks can
result in energy imbalance as well as weight gain leading to overweight and obesity. Energy
dense foods can encourage of consuming of energy that can often exceed the requirements
like foods, which are high in fat as well as sugar. Studies have found a strong positive
association between the uptake of the sugar-sweetened drinks with that of high body fat in
children and higher body weight as well as in adults (Buchmueller et al., 2015). Moreover,
lesser consumption of foods and nutrients that help in energy control and have protective
factors like consuming of vegetables and fruits high in fibres are another concern for obesity
gain. Most of the dietary patterns of Australia are seen to lack a diet relatively high in
vegetables, fruit, whole grains, poultry, fish, and reduced fat dairy, which have actually
influenced certain indicators of health positively. Therefore, calorie accumulation in the
individuals makes them gain weight and exposes them to chronic ailments (Vidgen et al.,
2018). Secondly, another biological cause of accumulation of energy is lack of physical
activities in everyday lives. Studies are of the opinion that energy is expended through
different types of bodily functions as well as physical activities that are seen to include
organised recreation, sport, and incidental activity, such as housework, walking gardening,
and or cycling for transport. Various physical activities have been seen to have cvarious

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positive health impacts that help to reduce body facts and decrease the chances of gaining
weight. Sedentary behaviours like that of sitting or lying down, other than the time when
when sleeping can also contribute obesity and overweight. Third, many of the studies are of
the opinion that genetics is another biological factor that can contribute to obesity. Genes are
seen to affect the amount of body fat that is stored and determine where the fat is distributed
(Ghosh et al., 2016). Genetics is also believed to play important role in how efficiently the
body becomes capable of converting food energy and how effectively the body can burn the
calories at the time of exercises. Fourth, family history also plays an important role in
determining whether an individual would be obese or overweight. Many of the studies have
found that obesity tends to run in the families and increases the chance in an individual to
occur when one or both of the parents are obese. Hence, the biological factors contribute to
obesity and overweight.
A large number of psychological factors are also related with obesity and overweight
issues. Many of the studies are of the opinion that when individuals struggle with mental
health as well as negative thinking, poor management of emotions and low self-esteem, they
can develop mental health disorders like depression, anxiety and even different types of
eating disorders. These mental health disorders are often seen to lead to poor self-care about
food preparation, emotional over-eating as well as little interest in the regular exercises. Lee
et al. (2018) have provided a number of psychological factors that can contribute in
developing or maintaining obesity among different individuals. These are the avoidance of
emotions, low self-worth, and self-criticism and poor body image. Others are the negative
core beliefs as well as binge eating. Headland et al. (2016) had talked about the concept of
emotional eating as one of the factor that is raising the number of affected individuals in
nation. Food is sometimes being considered for non-nutritional purposes when under such
circumstances, individuals are usually promoted to eat because of their emotions rather than

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the actual feelings of hunger. This form of behaviour is called the emotional eating and the
different emotional triggers as found in the various literatures are low mood, frustration,
stress, anger, loneliness and anxiety. Hayes et al. (2017) had found that food might act as the
comforter for satisfying unresolved emotional problems. Hence, this type of maladaptive
coping strategy can result in dependence on food for the emotional supports, which can
actually contribute to weight gain. Binge eating can be explained as the psychological eating
disorder where people are compelled for eating extra amounts of food within a short period of
time and without natural hunger. Such people are seen to feel loss of control and may go
through periods of purging when they can deny themselves with food. Binging as well as
purging can result in dramatic spikes and drop in blood sugar levels causing confuse to brain
and lead to unnatural food cravings. This becomes a cause of weight gain resulting in obesity.
Depression again on the other hand is stated to be both a cause and outcome of obesity. Huse
et al. (2018) had stated that depression can both result and cause stress which might also
cause you to change eating habits and activity habits in individuals. It has been also found
that many people who have difficulty from recovering from various sudden as well as
emotionally draining events can unknowingly start eating too much by consuming unhealthy
foods or forging exercises. Such draining events might be losing a family member or a close
friend as well as different types of relationship difficulties and also losing a job and facing
serious medical problems. It can contribute to unhealthy habits within a short period that
become difficult to change.
Social factors also termed as the social determinants of health can also play important
role in development of obesity and overweight issues. Social determinants of health can be
defined as the living conditions where people are found to be born, grow, survive and live
their lives. Such social living conditions can determine the quality of living of the individuals
and accordingly affect the health and well-being of the individuals. Firstly, one of the social

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determinants of health that can be stared in this aspect is low education level and poor health
literacy (Larg et al. 2018). Individuals how are not educated or who have low health literacy
will never be aware of the consequences of unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyle. They
would not also be able to understand how their actions would lead them to develop chronic
conditions they would adopt lifestyle which are unhealthy and make them develop obesity.
Hence, poor knowledge about the risks, consequences and ways to overcome obesity can
make them develop unhealthy health behaviours. Secondly, another social determinant of
health is the lack of employment or poor income. Studies have found people with financial
instability or poor income tend to settle down with cheaper but calorie dense fast foods and
take-away foods, which increases their chances of developing obesity and overweight issues
(Black et al. 2018). They cannot buy costly organic foods, which are low on calories but high
on nutrients. Hence, they tend to become more vulnerable to develop obesity and overweight
issues. Third, another social factor is the obesogenic environment that makes people develops
unhealthy behaviours. The various advertisements and marketing of unhealthy foods
products on radio, television, social media as well as lack of playgrounds, parks and fields in
the communities, pressure in academic and professional lives an d also others are creating an
environment where people are adopting unhealthy eating behaviours and living sedentary
lifestyles. All these are resulting obesity development in people.
Recommendations:
 It is extremely important for the healthcare professionals to develop health
education session in community-based manners for educating people in the
community in details about obesity. In this way, they can spread awareness.
They should be educated about risk factors and consequences of obesity along
with how healthy eating habits and physical activities in life can help in

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overcome chances of developing obesity. For this, health professionals can
allocate community halls for addressing the people in a community or can also
attend schools for educating children and teachers about the health behaviours.
They can also arrange for sessions in offices and organisations to make
employers and employees about how they can lead more active lives and
overcome obesity (Dyer et al. 2017).
 The healthcare professionals can arrange for health screening sessions in the
community healthcare sections where people should be encouraged to visit
monthly to measure their BMI and to find out whether they are vulnerable to
develop obesity of not. Accordingly, nurses would guide them with strategies
that would prevent them from developing the disorder. The community health
centres should also have mental health screening sessions where the
vulnerability of the patient to develop anxiety, obesity, emotional eating, binge
eating and similar issues would be identified. They should have
psychotherapists who can engage people in motivational interviewing and
cognitive behavioural therapies. These therapies help in replacing negative
thoughts and emotions with positive thoughts that motivate people to change
their behaviours (Hardy et al., 2017). They help in unlearning negative
behaviours and replace them with positive outlook
 The local government should be also approached for fund allocation for
undertaking important actions for developing a supportive community
environment. The community leaders can advocate for building of green
parks, fields and playgrounds where people in community can engage in
physical activities, jogging, brisk walking and even cycling. The communities
can also initiate swimming classes, develop gymnasiums and dancing classes

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in community centres where children and adults can engage in extra-curricular
activities (Lee et al., 2018)
 The healthcare professionals should work collaboratively with the
governmental and non-governmental sectors to ensure introduction of new
aspects that would help in modifying the obesogenic environment. Laws and
regulations should be strengthened to include displaying the nutritional
information on the menus and on the packages of food to make people know
what they are consuming (Hayes et al., 2017). Restrictions on marketing of
unhealthy food products and drinks can be done through application of penalty
charges and even banning in regressive cases. String monitoring bodies would
be implemented about what is broadcasted on television, social media, radio
and others. Schools canteens and offices also need to be monitored and
penalised if found guilty. Taxes should be levied on less healthy foods, drinks,
and exemption of taxes on healthier foods making people from all socio-
economic classes to have access to quality foods.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it can be seen that obesity and overweight issues have
become one of the most concerning health concern in the nation resulting in developing huge
number of chronic disorders and mental health problems. Hence, it is important for healthcare
professionals to identify the biological, social and psychological factors that result in obesity.
Accordingly, recommendations both at the individual levels and the governmental levels need
to be provided to ensure that the nation of Australia become fitter with lesser prevalence of
obesity.

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Referencing:
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(2017). Prevalence and characteristics of overweight and obesity in indigenous
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