Treating Obesity with Use of Technology

Obesity is becoming one of the most extensive problems globally, and many specialists are trying to prevent this issue by inventing modern ways of curing and introducing the latest technology. Since 1980 the number of people suffering from obesity has doubled, and this disease began to spread to individuals of all ages and genders (Chooi et al., 2019). An intensified fight against obesity improves the quality of life, and scientists put their efforts into the development of new technologies that will help to detect and prevent the risk of obesity.

Obesity is a common problem in both low- and high–income countries. However, while more wealthy people suffer from this disease in low-income countries, in high-income countries, almost all ages and genders are susceptible to the illness (Chooi et al., 2019). The major similarity in obesity rates of these countries is lack of activity and plentiful food intake. Such factors as genetics, stress, poor sleeping, harmful environment increase the risk of obesity. Moreover, health conditions might be both the causes of obesity and its consequences. Such problems as diabetes, strokes, excessive sweating, and dyspnea result from obesity or the first symptoms of the diseases. Nowadays, it is easy to diagnose obesity, but the treatment process might take a long time.

Obesity can cause hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and it happens when the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is activated. Sympathetic activity is increasing during this process. Also, insulin resistance and leptin resistance occur simultaneously as procoagulatory activity and endothelial dysfunction increase (Chooi et al., 2019). Moreover, when insulin resistance happens in the obese human body, it can cause type 2 diabetes. This type of diabetes does not require patients to be insulin-dependent, but it still decreases the rate of general health.

With the invention of technology, obesity treatment has become easier, but cases have begun to rise. For instance, children are more exposed to the Internet and phone use than their parents, but not all mobile applications benefit a person’s life. According to Quelly et al. (2016), some studies have been done to identify the positive side of phone and internet use. The results showed that there is only one positive effect for preventing obesity, which includes the use of training applications with sets of daily exercises. However, other researches showed that young people lose their life goals, and the understanding that an outside life of social networks exists comes at late stages.

The technological process does not stop at phones and the Internet, and the technological century brings many positive aspects to the treatment of such difficult diseases as obesity. Firstly, health care systems worldwide have medical applications where every patient with obesity can track their treatment dynamics and become more motivated from gaining first positive outcomes (Batsis et al., 2019). People living away from equipped hospitals have the opportunity to use the mHealth application and be always in contact with doctors. Secondly, prevention is a good way to protect health from irreparable outcomes, and to prevent obesity special calculators, that calculate body mass indexes were created (Rogers et al., 2016). The potential of these apps increases every year, and the fight against obesity becomes easier.

Technology has both positive and negative impacts on human health. However, the positive effects of technological inventions overcome all negative outcomes, helping patients cope with their health problems. Health Mobile applications help patients who potentially might have obesity to overcome the unpleasant results in the future. Consequently, a lot of effort put into improving treatment technology gives hope for a complete victory over obesity.

References

Batsis J. A., Naslund, J. A. & Zagaria, A.B. (2019). Technology for behavioral change in rural older adults with obesity. Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics, 38(2), 130-148. Web.

Chooi, Y. C., Ding, C. & Magkos, F. (2019). The epidemiology of obesity. Metabolism, 92, 6-10. Web.

Quelly, S. B., Norris, A. E., DiPietro, J. L. (2016). Impact of mobile apps to combat obesity in children and adolescents: A systematic literature review. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 21(1), 5-17. Web.

Rogers, R. J., Lang, W. & Gibbs, B. B. (2016). Applying a technology-based system for weight loss in adults with obesity. Obesity Science and Practice, 2(1), 3-12. Web.