If you’ve ever been overweight or have gained weight, it can be frustrating and discouraging. While many people understand the physical challenges, most fail to consider the effects of higher body fat on your brain. Being unhappy with being overweight can be embarrassing. How we look has a direct impact on how we feel emotionally. When it comes to our appearance, our emotions and feelings will often completely take over our thoughts. We avoid the scale, mirrors, and certain clothes. Then you realize that negative emotions do not have a place in clear thinking and moving toward your goals. Being overweight is something you want to change, but the discouragement seems to drain your energy, leaving you even less likely to alter course.
When the disappointment in your appearance never seems to be enough to garner the motivation for weight loss, it is essential to consider the other negative effects that being overweight has on your entire body, both inside and out. Thinking about all these aspects of your health can be an excellent resource for making the changes you need for complete wellness.
There are commonly known adverse effects of higher body fat. These include:
While this is not an extensive list of the adverse effects of obesity, it does include the most common. People with obesity are also more likely to develop other potentially serious health problems like certain cancers, sleep apnea, and digestive issues.
The evidence suggests that obesity is associated with reduced cognitive function, plasticity and brain volumes, and altered brain structure. Obesity also influences working memory, which impacts your ability to make decisions about the food you eat. There is increased activation in brain regions associated with reward processing. Therefore, eating junk food is more rewarding.
Studies have also found a link between midlife obesity and the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Midlife obesity is specifically the indicator here, partially because it can come with other risk factors. These include hypertension and diabetes, which both play a role in dementia progression.
Chronic inflammation is thought to be one of the ways in which obesity impacts brain health and cognitive function. Diets high in processed foods increase the production of proteins that signal to cells to create an inflammatory response. This inflammation can weaken the connections between brain cells and eventually lead to a decrease in the regions of your brain that are essential for cognition and memory. It can also impact the white matter in your brain, which are the connections between the different brain regions.
It’s important to remember that when making healthy vs. unhealthy choices that affect your body weight, the toll and impact it makes on your body goes much further than skin deep. Poor food choices, high amount of body fat, and obesity are known to create inflammation. Chronic inflammation has residual effects that lead to disease. Being overweight or obese puts pressure on your joints, affects your freedom of movement and mobility, and goes even deeper with the negative effects on your heart and brain. Brain health has a connection to every function of your body and is a number one concern for a long, healthy life.
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