Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder in where you stop breathing for a few seconds several times during the night depending on severity. Immediate results include poor sleep and daytime drowsiness. Sleep apnea happens to be one of the few "Obesity related diseases" that isn't caused by being fat but you can become fat because of it.
In the long run, sleep apnea can cause heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke. All of these are considered "obesity related diseases". (I also think it many "obesity related diseases" fat is the symptom not the cause). Studies have even looked into the "obesity epidemic" being caused by a rise in sleep disorders (Not just OSA but generally not getting enough sleep. How many people do you know who sleep when they are tired and wake up without an alarm?).
How can lack of sleep possibly make you fat? There can be a multitude of reasons: lack of energy makes for the lack of movement, a need for high calories energy, or it can possibly have an effect of hormones and metabolism.
So what does this have to do with the title of this blog: The Same Old Way. The same old way is this, blaming everything on fat and curing everything with weight loss. Even though sustained long term weight loss for the majority of people can't be done. And when they say weight loss, it really is fat to thin, not fat to less fat. Many sites tote the "Just losing 10% of your body weight will help". If it did, why continue to use the arcane BMI tables? What they mean is lose 10% of your body weight and kept losing 10% until you are thin.
The same old way regards an eight year old kid who weighs 200lbs be taken from his family and placed in foster care, for failing to lose weight. Our society says 200lbs eight year old must mean the mother (always the mother) is force feeding him ding dongs. An eight year old weighing 200 pounds is nowhere near the norm even for fat kids. When I tried to measure his weight into a child BMI calculator put out by the CDC it told I wasn't putting in accurate measurements. So maybe doctors and social workers should look beyond blaming Mom and forcing kids to embrace the diet mentality. Perhaps they should look into metabolic or other medical issues such as one the kid has been already diagnosed with: Sleep apnea.
And for this poor kid. He's going to have to live with the stress of being fat in a thin obsessed world, always pushed to lose weight or else and being ripped from his family and forced to live with strangers. I see eating disorders in his future. Oh but I forgot, better the kids have eating disorders than be fat.
Don't worry. If he's lucky like most kids, the pressure to be thin will be the least of his problems.
Posted by: Ashley | December 13, 2011 at 01:31 AM
I know that lack of sleep causes me to crave high-fat, high sugar foods all day. So, in my own case, I run at the top of my set-point when I'm having trouble sleeping.
About sleep apnea, it pisses me off that they still teach it is caused by fat -- even though the guy who "proved" it falsified his research: http://ori.hhs.gov/misconduct/cases/Fogel.shtml
Posted by: Lonie Mc. | December 13, 2011 at 11:28 AM
I'm fat just like a lot of others, but to fair losing weight DOES help with curing diseases. May I recall drew Carey being free and clear of type 2 diabetes after losing weight. Weight does cause or speed up the process of having health problems. Not saying thin means healthy, but excess fat is a major stress on your heart liver and kidneys. It's really simple...
Posted by: Chloe | February 02, 2012 at 01:55 AM
Hi Chloe,
Diabetes is never cured, but can go into remission. Diabetes can be put into remission by starvation. A healthy diet (Not a weight loss one) can also help control diabetes. Excess fat can help you survive heart attacks. It's called the Obesity Paradox.
Drew Carey is a celebrity. They are under pressure to be thin and they have the money to hire cooks and trainers to make sure they stick to their diet. Drew is doing a low-carb diet which I know from personal experience that there are easier to stick with but I question the long term benefits.
Posted by: fatchicksrule | February 04, 2012 at 11:18 AM