An investigation of some psychological parameters of obesity: causes, and adverse outcomes

Abstract

This paper investigated obesity, its psychological contributors, and its psychological outcomes. Obesity is defined as abnormal, or inordinate fat mass in the body that may cause poor health outcomes. The primary cause of obesity is a long-term inequality between calory intake and energy expenditure. Obesity is a global health concern associated with a range of health conditions, including diabetes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and hypercholesterolemia. There is also growing evidence of psychological reasons of obesity, such as, eating disorders. Binge Eating Disorder (BED), or Night Eating Syndrome (NES) can increase the gap between taken calory and spent energy. In addition, stress may cause overeating, leading to obesity. Acute stress, episodic acute stress, or chronic stress may increase calory intake. Also elevated cortisol levels due to stress also found to be a reason for obesity. Besides eating disorders, or emotional eating that is caused by stressors, or such situations that cause emotional destruction, for example, depression has various impacts on obesity reasons. Depressed individuals often remain at home with a sedentary lifestyle and increased caloric intake, leading to obesity. Once obesity develops, psychological aspects are more evident. In particular, sociocultural influences such as social media, norms, or beliefs may intensify maladaptive eating behaviors. Obesity has a variety of psychological consequences. These may include weight stigma, societal beliefs and norms, body dissatisfaction, feelings of loneliness, low self-esteem, obesity-related weakness and fatigue, social isolation, or low self-efficacy. These may manifest as mood, or anxiety disorders. In conclusion, there are several psychological backgrounds of obesity, such as emotional eating, mood disorders, or stress; however, obesity may initially develop due to physiological mechanisms such as energy imbalance and hormonal dysregulation and, when an individual has obesity, its psychological dimension tends to deepen.