Physical Activity and Body Weight vs Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseas

Cardiovascular Disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the most common and well known afflictions in modern society. It kills and hospitalizes many people every year. CVD is actually a rather broad category of affliction. It encompasses any disease or condition that affects the heart. These conditions have effects that range from mild to surgical repair and even to death in extreme cases. The causes of CVD are fairly well known. It is directly linked to both physical activity (and the obesity that it prevents) and body mass index (BMI) in the research that we have studied. The BMI is a measure of the proportion of the body that is made up of fat. The higher a person's BMI number is, the more body fat they have. The combination of these two conditions creates a persons risk for CVD. The problem lies in the fact that the exact reasons that these factors create risk of CVD and how much risk they create is not fully understood. It is well known that obesity and physical activity play large roles in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Obesity has become even more significant since obesity is on the rise in the United States. Obesity is strongly associated with physical activity, meaning that people who exercise will also lose weight as well as increase their physical fitness. However there are many people who remain obese even with strong levels of physical activity. This sets up the question of what roles weight and physical activity have on lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease independently. Recent studies have shown that increasing physical fitness reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease regardless of body weight, and that increasing physical activity reduces the risk more that losing weight alone. T... ... way, the benefits of being fit were found not to totally alleviate the risk of being fat or that being slender totally alleviated the health risks of being unfit. From this it is clear that the best way to avoid both all-cause and cardiovascular disease death is to be both fit and have a normal body weight. Works Cited: Stevens, June, et al. "Fitness and Fatness as Predictors of Mortality from All Causes and from Cardiovascular Disease in Men and Women in the Lipid Research Clinics Study." American Journal of Epidemiology 19 June 2002: 832-41. Oxford Journals. 7 Nov. 2006 . Weinstein, Amy R., and Howard D. Sesso. "Joint Effects of Physical Activity and Body Weight on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease." Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews Vol.34 2006: 10-15. American College of Sports Medicine.