Lockdown your weight

The outbreak of Covid-19 worldwide has resulted to many grave consequences – unemployment and malnutrition being pegged as the serious ones, poised to take lives even as the Coronavirus does. But, for urban and relatively affluent communities this global health crisis has other dangers. Due to lockdowns worldwide, (which not only limit to the rate of contagion, but provide the opportunity for people to feel safe at home,) there can be severe psychological stress along with the positive benefits of bonding with family – but there are also physical changes to individuals - an increase in obesity rates.

Obesity, already rampant in Indian society (over 5 % of the population,) is emerging as a major risk factor because of the coronavirus lockdown, a top Indian gastroenterologist has said. The current crisis and the need for self-isolation is prompting many to rely on processed food with longer shelf life instead of fresh produce (which may be scarce) and canned food with higher quantities of sodium. One might notice an increase in weight if this pattern of lifestyle persists for a longer period of time. Thus the current lockdown is a dangerous environment for the breeding of various habits like the above that contribute to obesity.

That can be fatal in Covid-19 cases which has been established in recent research undertaken around the world on coronavirus. One of the largest studies in the US, which has registered the high rate of deaths, especially in New York state, has found that obesity was the biggest factor in fatalities due to old age-related complications. The large sample study by the New York-based NYU Grossman School of Medicine, found that the obese patients were substantially at higher odds of death due to Covid-19 than any cardiovascular or pulmonary disease. According to the World Health Organization, more people are dying from being overweight than underweight. Younger people who are obese are at high risk.

Obesity is a growing problem worldwide and our complacent response to the current situation contributes to obesity in many ways. The number of people considered obese has nearly tripled since 1975, and beyond the pandemic and lockdowns, with obesity comes a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure (hypertension) and stroke, among other health problems – which will be felt later on.