Health Issue Obesity and My Field Acute Mental Health Unit Assignment

Introduction - Health Issue Obesity and My Field Acute Mental Health Unit Assignment

Obesity may be defined as the situation of accumulating excessive fat which creates the risk to health. This situation creates the diverse health problem such as high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol level and thereby increases the risk of heart diseases as well as strokes. The current report will also depict the importance of evaluating obesity within the mental health unit.

Reason for topic

Currently, obesity is the major public health issues that prevailing within UK and that is impact on overall well being of citizens due to which I have selected this topic. It has been assessed that over 64% of total population are either obsess or overweight which is placing huge impact on their overall well-being (Obesity cases within UK, 2024). This topic has been chosen because obesity is the major reason behind several health issue and problem among UK citizen.

Target audience

Elderly patients are the target audiences as 78% of total individuals above the age of 60 facing this issue (Obesity cases within elderly People, 2025). Elderly people are more prone to obesity due to the hormonal changes, decline in physical activity and metabolism. Moreover, obesity is major reason behind development of various health issues within elderly people due to which this group has been selected.

Outcome of obesity

There is a long lasting impact of obesity which eventually impacts the overall health condition and well-being of elderly people which as follows:

Physical condition: Obesity leads to high blood pressure and cholesterol level which increases the risk of heart disease, Type-2 diabetes, breathing problem, sleep apnea, Gallstones, gall bladder diseases and musculoskeletal discomfort (Ansari, Haboubi and Haboubi, 2020). Along with this, obesity also increases the risk of osteoarthritis of knees that result into physical impairment and permanent disability leading to reducing the quality of life.

Social well-being: People with obesity generally face issue related to discrimination, stigma as well as social isolation and thereby hamper their overall social well-being (Li et al, 2021). This also results in increasing stress, anxiety and depression which eventually leads the development of mental health issues.

Economic Impact: In UK, annual Obesity-related medical costs around 173 billion dollar which indicates the huge negative impact on the economic position (Economic impact of Obesity, 2025). Obesity includes diverse direct and indirect cost for the patients such as sickness, diagnostic, preventive & treatment expenses and thereby increases the financial burden.

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Linkage of obesity with mental health unit

Obesity is one of the most significant public health issues within mental units as it highly impacts their overall mental and physiological health of the patients. It has been found that adult with excessive weight are 55% more likely to develop long term depression which eventually impacts overall mental well-being. Below are the various obesity- related factors that lead to higher mental health issues among the patients:

Impact on quality of life: Individuals with excessive weight usually face issue in the occupational and physical functioning which develops issue related to the social isolation, loneliness and eventually end up causing depression (Link of obesity with mental health, 2024). Obesity also restricts individual to undertake their preferred activities such as attaining event and travelling that impact on overall quality of life.

Prone to discrimination: There is a stereotypes and negative attitude and perspective of society which usually consider obese individual as lazy, undisciplined and unattractive which impacts on the individual’s self-esteem (Atkins and Wannamathee, 2020). This becomes the major reason behind facing biasness and discrimination from family member, healthcare provider and peers which ultimately impacts their overall mental health.

Physiological issues: There are various obesity related health factors that hampers overall mental health of the individual. Research suggests that poor eating habit and excessive body fat raises inflammatory issue which in turn increases the risk of depression and anxiety.

However, obesity and mental health issue is not having one-way link rather mental health issue also result into obesity. It has been discovered that individual generally prone to eat more and make poor dietary choices due to the chronic stress, depression and anxiety also may result in higher obesity (Wilding et al, 2020). Moreover, serotonin deficiency caused due to sleep disorder and anxiety result in higher carbohydrate craving and weight gain. According to Nursing and Midwifery council (NMC), nurses should be capable in effectively managing obesity related health issue as to improve health condition of elderly citizens (Nursing and Midwifery council guideline for obesity, 2025). On the other hand, It has been determined that nurses could only be able to manage this issue if patients are willing to change their lifestyle and adopt calorie controlled diet.

CONCLUSION

By summing up this report, it has been determined that obesity is the major health issue prevailing within UK. Further, hormonal and metabolism changes and lack of physical activity has resulted into increasing obesity cases among the elderly people. Obesity has resulted in negatively impacting on economical, physical and social well being of individual. Further, Obesity is highly linked with mental health issue as it reduces the quality of life, increases discrimination and physiological issue.

REFERENCES

Books and Journals

• Ansari, S., Haboubi, H. and Haboubi, N., 2020. Adult obesity complications: challenges and clinical impact. Therapeutic advances in endocrinology and metabolism, 11, p.2042018820934955.
• Atkins, J.L. and Wannamathee, S.G., 2020. Sarcopenic obesity in ageing: cardiovascular outcomes and mortality. British Journal of Nutrition, 124(10), pp.1102-1113.
• Li, X., Wang, M., Song, Y., Ma, H., Zhou, T., Liang, Z. and Qi, L., 2021. Obesity and the relation between joint exposure to ambient air pollutants and incident type 2 diabetes: a cohort study in UK Biobank. PLoS Medicine, 18(8), p.e1003767.
• Wilding, S., Ziauddeen, N., Smith, D., Roderick, P., Chase, D. and Alwan, N.A., 2020. Are environmental area characteristics at birth associated with overweight and obesity in school-aged children? Findings from the SLOPE (Studying Lifecourse Obesity PrEdictors) population-based cohort in the south of England. BMC medicine, 18, pp.1-13.

Online

• Economic impact of Obesity. 2025. Online. Available through:< https://www.frontier-economics.com/uk/en/news-and-insights/articles/article-i9130-the-annual-social-cost-of-obesity-in-the-uk/>
• Link of obesity with mental health. 2024. Online. Available through: < Link of obesity with mental health. >
• Nursing and Midwifery council guideline for obesity. 2025. Online. Available through: < https://www.nmc.org.uk/news/news-and-updates/joint-statement-on-meeting-regulatory-standards-during-periods-of-global-or-national-shortage-of-medicines/>
• Obesity cases within elderly People. 2025. Online. Available through: < https://www.obesityactionscotland.org/media/lpipeeiz/obesity-and-older-adults-final-report-with-cover.pdf >
• Obesity cases within UK. 2024. Online. Available through: < https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/d