Health Dangers Obese Women Face
Posted in Health, Weight Loss by inMotion Life
Overly obese women are putting their health and lives at risk by being overweight. While obesity affects both sexes and can ruin the health of both men and women, extremely obese women face a few additional health challenges that don’t impact men.
One such condition that only affects obese women due to the fact that it’s related to their reproductive system, is PCOS. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, can occur in any woman, whether she is overweight or not, but it’s much more common among overweight or obese women.
It can even occur in young girls who are just entering puberty, but generally doesn’t unless they’re overweight. When it does occur at a very young age, serious reproductive problems can result.
PCOS is a condition that can go hand in hand with insulin resistance. When a person is overweight and/or eating a diet rich in simple carbs that are absorbed quickly into the bloodstream, insulin resistance often becomes a problem.
Insulin resistance is when the body’s insulin production is no longer able to remove the blood sugar from the blood stream. The body has become insulin resistant because of the large amounts that were required over an extended period of time.
While a person can be insulin resistant and not have PCOS, if a person develops the condition it’s generally because they’re insulin resistant, and essentially pre-diabetic. PCOS causes small cysts to grow on the ovaries. While the cysts themselves aren’t harmful, they cause hormone imbalances that lead to other problems.
A common symptom of PCOS, is elevated testosterone levels. The presence of this male hormone at excessively high levels in females like extremely obese women, can cause side effects like excessive hair growth in places such as the face, stomach and back, and problems with the reproductive cycle.
When a woman has too much testosterone in her body, her menstrual periods can be delayed, irregular and either very light or very heavy. In some cases, her periods can stop altogether. PCOS can affect the reproductive cycle to such an extent, that it can be difficult or impossible for a woman to fall pregnant.
PCOS also causes weight gain, and can make it very difficult for obese women, or any women, to lose weight. Acne flare-ups are often a sign of PCOS as well, because high levels of testosterone are linked with acne break outs.
Another symptom of PCOS is depression. While being obese can contribute to depression in itself, the hormone changes and fluctuations caused by PCOS can also directly contribute to the feelings of sadness and depression.
While experts agree that PCOS can’t be prevented, eating healthy, getting regular exercise, and not smoking are recommended treatments for the condition. So it stands to reason that if you follow a healthy lifestyle, even if you are pre-disposed to developing the condition, you may never suffer symptoms of the disease.
PCOS can strike any girl, even teenagers, but those who eat poorly, don’t exercise, and smoke, are at greater risk. For extremely obese women, it’s almost not a case of whether or not they’ll get PCOS, but when.
If you suffer from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or know someone suffering from this disease, or you have any advice and tips of your own, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
