You might ask, are obesity and depression related to each other? This is the proverbial chicken and egg scenario of which comes first. People who are morbidly obese or overweight often suffer from depression and low self esteem. Depressed people often become obese as time goes by, because depression by nature tends to make your be less active, less social and feed emotional problems with high calorie, high carbohydrate foods.
With various researchers, these obesity and depression have been found to be closely related to each other by the virtue of the chain reaction effect. The connection is quite simple, and functions on two very basic and logical levels. The first connection level between obesity and depression happens when a person truly becomes obese because of being depressed over time. A good example would be as we mentioned before “emotional eating”, to take away that feeling of emptiness or loneliness, or sometimes even to get rid of the stress that’s been bothering him/her. When a person gets accustomed to this, it will in time become a bad habit, which could be very hard to break. The person can’t stop eating because it’s the only way to make he/she feel better. To add to that, as the person gets deeply depressed, the more comfort he/she will need, therefore this will lead to the person consuming more food. This is a chain reaction that is hard to ignore, with the fact that one condition leads to the other condition which can turn out to more serious than it appears.
Secondly, the reaction can also begin the other way around. It is generally known that it is usual for obese people to feel depressed because of their weight. Feeling inadequate because of the inability to control the gnawing hunger some feel, unable to improve their current health and obesity compels overweight people to feel more depressed.
Bottom line is, a person can potentially become obese with overeating due to depression and obese people can become depressed because of how they look, coupled with how other people treat them. When you’re obese, discrimination is still alive and well in the U.S. and practiced regularly in business, schools – everywhere. The common assumption is obese or overweight people are lazy, unmotivated, lack will power and are generally substandard. This can make life very difficult, especially if you do not have emotional support available. It helps when you have friends or your family members that can see the real you and encourage you to stand up and do something to resolve your dilemma.
Why do we need to ask, “How is depression related to obesity?” It is important that we ask this question, to be able to observe the consequences and relationship between depression and obesity. Once we understand the symbiotic relationship between these two entities it becomes clear that once the obesity issue is resolved, the depression will also be resolved and vice versa. With this understanding it becomes clear that weight loss surgery is indeed indicated for obese and overweight individuals in order to reclaim their lives and lessen their depression.
Weight loss surgery can prevent certain future health risks from obesity and also lessen medications needed to control depression. Weight loss surgery gives an obese person a chance to be back in control of their life and minimize depression and low self esteem issues.
Related posts:
