Index IntroductionObesityDepressionTypes of DepressionBiological CausesEnvironmental CausesStatistics on how obesity affects depressionMethodologyWorks CitedIntroductionObesity and depression today are one of the biggest problems our societies are facing. These two issues are viewed differently by the masses, however both share common links and connections where both interact with each other. With modern research and techniques, it is now possible to understand the fundamental causes that both share. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn this article, the focus is on how these two games connect and how obesity actually leads to depression. Obesity on the one hand is described as “an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that presents a health risk” (WHO). This leads to people's growth being considered abnormal in terms of body shape and chubby. This phenomenon causes a person to despise themselves and be ashamed of their body size and shape due to our society's conception of ideal body shape and weight. This leads to low esteem of the obese person and people stereotype them as another "unwanted" or "useless" person. This however is a big problem and leads to the worst possible outcomes, such as the victim falling into severe depression or even having thoughts of suicide. This brings us to depression, defined as “a common, serious medical illness that adversely affects the way you feel, the way you think, and the way you act” (American Psychiatric Association). It leads directly to sadness, pain and loneliness to the point that the victim experiences some of the worst (psychological) pain they have ever endured, resulting in mental illness, changes in attitudes, changes in personality (i.e. introversion) and overall detachment from oneself . others simply to avoid being judged by people's perceptions. According to a “Pseudo-Panel Analysis” the panel obtained data from the “Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System” from 1997 to 2008, a direct link was identified between BMI having a positive effect on depression highlighting that this stigma of obesity triggers depression demonstrating that the two problems are interconnected. Obesity The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) defines obesity as an accumulation of excess body fat by environmental or genetic means that is difficult to control through dieting. There are many methods to determine obesity, but the most used method is body mass index (BMI), BMI is defined as a value derived from an individual's height and weight to determine whether a person is overweight or underweight. Causes of Obesity: Obesity generally refers to the state of being excessively overweight, i.e. an individual who is taller than an average individual of his or her age/height. This results because the person has a higher BMI (body mass index) than what is considered normal for their age and/or height. There are several causes of obesity, which we will talk about in this article, however, in most articles mainly inactivity or less physical excursion is highlighted. As research has also shown, individuals who do not exercise and take part in physical activities tend to become lazy and lethargic. They tire easily and gradually lose their stamina. This leads to an increase in their eating habits as they need a source to get energy and instead of exercising to get energy, they resort to the simplest way of getting carbohydrates for quickincreases in energy. Food intake itself determines body weight; Choosing fatty foods with high levels of cholesterol and sugar over healthy alternatives such as fruits, whole grains and vegetables is a key factor that increases weight. Time management also plays a vital role in the lives of people, especially working-class middle class developed countries. This is because people choose fast food products over healthy homemade foods to save time and effort, however, fast food has an excessive amount of calories which also leads to obesity. Another cause of obesity is technology addiction. Despite their age, everyone is addicted to technology and instead of “going out” they prefer to spend an unhealthy amount of time in front of their electrical devices. This leads to minimal physical activity and therefore weight gain. Lack of knowledge about a healthy lifestyle also plays a role in obesity. People should educate their children to choose wisely and consume healthy alternatives and not junk food most, if not all, of the time. Another factor is family tendencies/genetics. As children follow their parents, they adapt their eating habits, so if the parents eat a lot, the children will too, developing the same eating habits and gaining weight. Also, other factors can be boredom, income related so you can't afford healthy options, genetic problems, unavailability of healthy options, side effects of medications, even disease related side effects; "hypothyroidism, insulin, Cushing's syndrome" all lead to weight gain. Depression The American Psychiatric Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute of Mental Health define depression as a mood disorder. Depression is defined as a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. According to all editions of the DSM-5, a product of 10 years of efforts by hundreds of international experts in the fields of medicine, it is stated that all symptoms of depression are all equal representations of severity. Many people have periods where they feel down at one time or another, but depression is when a person is constantly sad for weeks or months at a time. Types of depression: major depression: dysthymia, adjustment disorders, bipolar disorders. Depression is known as a mental defect that statistically occurs in at least 10% of the population at some point in their lives. There is no specific cause for depression. Biological Causes Several biological factors are believed to contribute to depression, but their exact mechanisms are unclear. Some of these factors include; Neurotransmitters; It is known that a disruption in the levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in the central nervous system is the direct cause of depression. Biological differences in brain size; According to the Mayo Clinic, people with depression have notable differences in brain size compared to people without mood disorders. There are brain structures such as the hippocampus that appear smaller in people suffering from depression.Hormones; hormonal changes can cause depression; hormonal changes that occur during menopause, pregnancy (postpartum depression is a mood disorder that begins after giving birth and usually lasts beyond six weeks), menstrual periods, and is also seen in thyroid deficiencies. While a single life effect is not known to cause depression, they can trigger or even worsen depression. Early childhood trauma is known to cause depression in children, adultsteenagers and adolescence. Genetic inheritance; Depression has been found to be more common in people who have relatives suffering from this depression. Environmental causes Some life events known to trigger or worsen depression include: Birth of a child Death of a loved one Financial problems Accidents Loss of job Continued exposure to violence, neglect and abuse makes people who they already are susceptible to depression are even more vulnerable to it. Depression in children and adolescents is perhaps attributable to early exposure to trauma. Traumas such as rape, accidents, death of a loved one, and so on. Children are known to suffer from more severe effects of depression due to negligence especially on the part of the parents and ultimately leading to suicide on the part of the child. There are several symptoms to diagnose depression. Symptoms range from mild depression to severe depression.Symptoms of mild depression may include constant abnormal tiredness, constant weakness of spirit and severe symptoms include hallucinations and delusional thoughts, symptoms of psychosis, suicidal thoughts which if not managed properly could lead to death. Other physical symptoms include lack of sexual desire, lack of interest in hobbies, pain and lack of appetite. Some patients with depression have no physical symptoms of depression, some people appear optimistic and cheerful but internally suffer from symptoms of depression. Depression is linked to many other health problems such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and multiple sclerosis can also have a negative impact. higher risk of depression. Obesity and Depression have always been recognized as two individually occurring problems, however, in recent years, they have been thought of in a different dimension and have been shown to be interconnected. In this article, the goal is to examine how obesity leads to depression. Obesity, or in other words, excessive weight gain, leads directly to depression as you get “big,” worry about your physical appearance and how others might see you differently. “Body shaming” plays a vital role in depression as you receive “unwanted attention” regarding your weight, meaning you get stared at in public for being overweight. This can lower one's self-esteem and have a psychological impact on an individual, deteriorating their health. Depression has been recognized to have a direct impact on the central nervous system. Furthermore, both obesity and depression share common symptoms such as overeating, irregular sleep, guilt, being “useless” and even suicidal thoughts, anxiety, isolation, abuse. or the loss of a significant relationship. According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), depression is a measure of mental disorder and shares symptoms with obesity. Groups of individuals from 15 US states were surveyed by telephone, and the results showed that people who did not feel emotionally stable in the last 30 days of the survey ate more than usual, comparing to their weight before emotional instability.” they also said they felt embarrassed about the weight gain which again affected their mood, making them more depressed. This shows that the two problems are related and that obesity directly causes changes in emotional state. There is a reciprocal relationship between obesity and depression. There are common factors between both of these problems. These factors include; body stigma and depression, metabolic syndrome in relation to major depression, pain associated with obesity, psychological distress leading toreduced physical activity and fitness in children, specific role of inflammation caused by adiposity in depression, relationship of tryptophan factor to depression, and perception of an ideal body image leading to body contouring surgeries. First, a survey of a sample of forty-four overweight and obese individuals of various ethnic backgrounds, age groups, and genders and with a BMI of 37.2 (on average) indicated that the stigma of coping and coping was directly and positively related to depression. Coping responses show that individuals who face prejudice and discrimination due to their obesity lead them to fall into adverse physiological outcomes simply due to the mistreatment of other individuals. Subsequently, recent epidemiological studies reveal that components of MeS that include things like visceral obesity, hypertension, and insulin resistance demonstrate mutual depression in patients. MeS is associated with an unhealthy lifestyle and could potentially cause cardiovascular disease, stress and problems with the nervous system, immune defenses. system defects, inflammation and even premature death. The hormones, ghrelin and leptin, which are generally associated with mood regulation, exhibit changes in depressed patients. Furthermore, obesity can also cause pain (both physical and psychological) which can disrupt metabolic processes and increase mechanical stress on an individual leading to anxiety and depression due to disturbed moods, eating habits and poor metabolism. Additionally, an Australian LOOK longitudinal study reveals that stress leads to reduced amounts of physical fitness in children. The study elaborated that six hundred and seventy-six children were tested through multiple questionnaires on childhood depression and fitness assessments over a span of four years where the results showed that a child who manifested and showed more signs and symptoms of depression (regardless of his age and sex) was probably less active and fit. Finally, tryptophan also plays an important role against depression. This amino acid has vital functions in the human body in terms of metabolic functions. Tryptophan triggers the synthesis of serotonin (5-HT) associated with obesity and other peripheral disorders. Therefore, a reduction in TRP in the diet could lead to obesity and trigger depression in the individual. Therefore, these are some of the important factors that relate obesity and depression, proving that obesity leads to depression. Statistics on how obesity affects depression. Studies conducted have brought to the world's knowledge that 25% of obese individuals are likely to experience depression. In countries like the United States of America, obese people have experienced horrific emotional tantrums such as poor self-image, low self-esteem, and social isolation. These are all social factors that lead to depression in obese individuals. People suffering from obesity have also been blacklisted or disowned, stereotyped, prejudiced and victimized. Females accumulate fat mostly below the waist and in the abdominal region, hips, buttocks, thighs, while their male counterparts are susceptible to accumulating fat mostly above the waist, around the navel and melts there last. It is a widely known fact that men accumulate less than eighteen percent of total body fat and women less than twenty-five percent. An excess of these percentages is not specifically dangerous to health, as long as the percentages do not reach thirty-five percent and forty percent of body fat, respectively. of adults of the same ageabove eighteen were overweight, two thousand and fourteen and thirteen percent were obese. For many years it has been deduced that obesity leads above all to depression. In the studies by Luppino and colleagues it was observed that in American studies there was a strong impact of obesity on the development of depression, the possibility of a biological link between obesity and depression. Luppino and colleagues in their studies clarified that the mechanism underlying obesity and the onset of depression may be different from one culture to another, the sociocultural system could be different and more severe in one culture, compared to other cultures. According to the procedure of social and behavioral sciences observed that obesity does not statistically cause serious changes in the rate of depression. Furthermore, a study drawn from data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) – III revealed that ninety-fifth to one hundredth percentiles of obese adolescents have a prevalence of major depression, amounting to a notable and significant level, 20% for adolescents. males and 30% for males. girls. In a long study of a huge cohort of procreators from Northern Finland, measures of obesity at the age limit of fourteen and thirty-one years were analyzed, accompanied by measures of depression at the age of thirty-one, finding that obesity of adolescents was related to depression in adults. A study by Swallen and colleagues using the 1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health found that among younger adolescents, obesity was linked to low self-esteem and depression. In society, compared to people of normal weight, excessively fat individuals are prone to discrimination, low self-esteem, rejection, ridicule, anxiety, suicide attempts and anxiety and other outcomes with health implications such as diabetes, heart failure, hypercholesterol and arthritis. GET FAT. In 2013, forty-two million young people under the age of five were overweight or obese. Globally, obesity has more than doubled since 1980. By 2240, more than 1.9 billion adults age eighteen and older were overweight, of whom more than six million were obese. For long-term weight loss you need to increase about four thousand calories to lose one pound of fat. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Methodology To relate the two problems of obesity and depression and to prove that obesity leads to depression, we as a group have constructed a paper that highlights the correlation between these problems and gives the reader an idea of their mutual interaction. This was done using credible and authentic literature reviews from accredited research journals such as; pubmed, Oxford Acedemic, American Psychiatric Association and NCBI providing us with the important statistics and information we needed to prove our case. This article focused on examining the impact of obesity on depression and how the two individual problems are interconnected. To further examine and investigate the issue, we have drafted a document that clearly highlights the two issues of concern; obesity and depression, and this was done using literature reviews from accredited research journals available online, namely Pub Med, PMC (USA National Library of Medicine), EveryDay Health which has a certified board of doctors and researchers, Oxford Acedemic ( John's Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and NCBI These resources were very insightful regarding our topic and research. Works CitedAmerican. (2021).