overweight man back pain.
So when we’re discussing diabetes, if I start as a normal individual and progress to the disease process of diabetes, it starts with an individual who has normal function, then you develop insulin resistance, which makes the pancreas work harder. Eventually the pancreas can’t work hard enough and we call that pancreatic insufficiency. Ultimately it leads to full pancreatic failure. This is a process that normally takes years, but the obesity increases the insulin resistance and starts that process earlier in life the more overweight you are. And will lead to the pancreas wearing out and more difficulties with carbohydrate metabolism. So the increased weight is one of the main risk factors along with genetics and lifestyle choices to developing diabetes.
Lastly, to touch on injuries again and medical care as well. When you are morbidly obese, your immune system doesn’t work well, your healing system doesn’t work well. So injuries, illnesses are all exacerbated when you’re overweight. Your risk of injury increases when you’re overweight. Your difficulty and recovery from injury is increased and made more difficult. So even routine activities like going grocery shopping, playing with your grandchildren and lifting an ice chest up raises the risk of injury significantly for just normal life activities when you carry extra weight. You’re more likely to fall, more likely to injure a joint when you carry extra weight. This aspect of mobility is unlikely to cause significant mortality, but still, if you injure yourself, it decreases your quality of life and decreases your function. Especially if it’s repetitive over time, coupled with things like arthritis. This is why being obese significantly affects your functional level as you progress in life and why maintaining a healthy weight is so important with respect to your functional
status.
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