Does Obesity Causes A Higher Risk Of Infection For COVID?

Since the beginning of the covid-19 infection, this virus has proved to be fatal for people. Today this deadly virus has engulfed the whole world. People had to remain imprisoned in their homes. There were long queues of patients in the hospitals. Millions of people even lost their lives.

Why People With Obesity Are More Vulnerable To Covid?

Although this virus troubled the whole world, among all, the risk of Covid infection was seen more in those people who already had some disease or who were obese. Doctors from all around the world cleared at the beginning of the pandemic that some of the risk factors, such as old age and any chronic disease, have a drastic impact on the Covid-19 severity. Obesity is also one of those impactful factors. Obesity weakens our immune system, making us more vulnerable to illness.

Does Obesity Causes A Higher Risk Of Infection For COVID-19

What is obesity?

So now the first question that arises is what is obesity? Obesity is commonly measured by using a sorting method for weight categories named Body Mass Index or BMI. Body Mass Index (BMI) is the ratio of a person’s mass (weight) in kilograms with respect to the square of his height in meters. An estimated amount of one billion adults over the world are overweight while approximately 300 million of them suffer from obesity.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a BMI of more than 30 is considered as Class 1 obesity. BMI from 35 to 40 comes under class II or serious obesity, and BMI over 40 is severe obesity or class III.

How obesity affects the body’s defense?

Obesity makes our immune system weak, due to which when any kind of virus attacks our body, our system could not cope with that. The excessive fat cells in obese people become unhealthy and are capable of misguiding the immune system by creating fake inflammation and spreading false news of external attacks. This continuing inflammation stresses the defense system and weakens it when there is an actual attack.

An international team of researchers studied approximately over four hundred thousand covid patients and the finding of these data are horrifying. It has been observed that obese people are 48% more likely to die due to Covid-19 whereas 74% of people are likely to be admitted to ICU.

Reasons for Obesity

There are plenty of reasons for causing obesity. It can be genetic and can be inherited from parents. Children whose parents are obese are more likely to be obese. Obesity can be caused due to certain types of medication or excessive use of insulin. But poor diet and an unhealthy lifestyle are making the situation more difficult for obese people. Nowadays our diet is full of processed food, consists of a lot of sugar and harmful fats, and lacks essential nutrition like complex carbohydrates, protein, and vitamins, etc. Due to the busyness of life, now people are not able to find time for exercise. Even most of us do not do any physical work in our whole day. This poor eating habit and lack of any physical exertion leads to overweight and finally obesity. Increased consumption of junk food and fast food worsen the situation.

Solution for obesity

In most cases, obesity is caused by an imbalance intake of calories. Weight loss is the simple mathematics of taking calories and burning them. Reducing your calorie intake along with regular exercise is the formula to reduce obesity.

You can follow a healthy diet containing less fat and harmful carbs.
Eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts to gain fiber from food.
Start doing regular exercises like jogging or running, swimming, cycling, pushups, situps etc.
Encourage yourself to do more physical work such as walking briskly, gardening, using the stairs instead of the elevator and getting off the bus or train one stop earlier and walking the rest of the way.
Cut down your consumption of fatty and sugary foods.
Use vegetable-based oils rather than animal-based fats.
Consult doctors for medication if you have severe obesity.

Remember, health is the greatest wealth one can possess. Don’t let obesity ruin the fun of living. Obese people are advised to take extra care of themselves and get rid of this disease.