By Courtly Nguyen and Mariah Talley; Farnsley Middle School (Louisville, KY)
When we walk around Louisville, KY we see a lot of obese and overweight people. According to The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, an organization for children’s health, founded by The American Heart Association, 1 of 3 kids in Kentucky are either obese or overweight. As of 2011, Kentucky ranked at number 8 in the US for teen obesity. If they keep on the weight, they can get metabolic syndrome.
According to the Mayo Clinic, metabolic syndrome, also known as “Syndrome X”, is a set of risk factors that takes place at the same time. It increases your chances of getting diabetes, heart disease, and a stroke. It is closely linked to obesity and the lack of exercise.
According to Medicinenet.com, metabolic syndrome is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which affects the heart. Cardiovascular disease is a group of diseases that includes the heart or blood vessels and involves heart attacks, strokes, and more. A stroke occurs when the blood flow to an area of the brain is interrupted. A heart attack occurs when the heart can’t receive oxygen and the flow oxygen to a part of a heart muscle is blocked.
Kathryn Hulick is a freelance science writer who wrote the article called Explainer: What is metabolic syndrome? In an email, Hulick says, “Metabolic Syndrome used to be very rare in kids and teens but is becoming more common. Metabolic syndrome itself is not life threatening, but it increases your chance to develop diseases that are life threatening,” says Hulick.
According to Hulick, obesity is when a person eats too much and does little to no exercise and they gain weight. You have a healthy weight if you have an average weight for your height. A person that is overweight has a larger body so their heart needs to pump more blood. The extra blood that is produced presses hard on the walls of the blood vessels. High blood pressure can lead to heart problems and other things.
Hulick says, ”Diabetes is a disease where the body either creates too little of the hormone insulin (known as type 1 disease) or ignores the presence of too much insulin when it is present (known as type 2 diabetes).”Insulin is a hormone that helps the body to use glucose as fuel and it is produced in the pancreas that is part of the digestive system.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a large waist circumference is a visible sign that you are overweight. The Mayo Clinic advises you to see a doctor if you have at least one element of metabolic syndrome. The Mayo Clinic says, “If blood sugar is very high, you might have signs and symptoms of diabetes – thirst, urination, fatigue (tiredness), and blurred vision.”
According to Hulick and The Mayo Clinic, metabolic syndrome can be cured through a healthy diet and exercise.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that you can prevent getting metabolic syndrome by being active, making regular doctor visits to keep track of your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels, and having a healthy eating diet.
Maintaining a healthy life style is very important. Don’t sit around and become a couch potato, get up and be active.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
