Another Risk Factor- the Size of Your Waist
Size of your Waist: Obesity is a huge issue in the United States. More than a quarter of the people who live in the US are affected by this condition. It has many emotional and physical effects on a person and is responsible for causing many different health conditions. For example, heart disease is one of the most common. In order to lower obesity, many measures have been taken to reinforce healthy living over the years.
The focus has been on losing weight and achieving a healthy body mass index (BMI). However, recent research claims that even if one has a healthy BMI, if they have a large waist they will have a much higher risk of death in comparison to someone with a smaller waist, approximately twice as much of a risk.
The waist size recommended for men by the American Heart Association is less than 40 inches. For women, they recommend less than 35 inches. It has been found that every four inches of the extra waist can mean a 25% higher risk of dying.
The reason why having a large waist can lead to death is that fat in the waist region means that there is a great amount of fat around vital organs. This sort of fat is the cause of many health complications.
The size of your waist’s study was based on 100 000 people (a mixture of both men and women) that were 50 years or older. The people were studied over a time period of nine years and many ended up dying due to their health conditions. The results were based on one study so the research has not technically been proven as of now. However, it wouldn’t hurt to burn off some of the fat hanging around, right?