For my medical terminology homework we had to discuss obesity in America... The prompt for this homework was as follows: "Discuss the link between obesity and cardiovascular disorders. With all the emphasis during the last decade on diet and exercise, are Americans more physically fit now than in the past? Share your thoughts in this discussion board (minimum of 50 words)" I had to write this very PG13 and got angrier as I wrote more and started going off on tangents, but fuck it, iIll get a 100 on it anyways, lemme know what y'all think. My Response: "In  2005-2006, the obesity rate for men was 33.3%, in women it was 35.3%. This gives a combined average obesity rate of adults over the age of 20 as 34.3%. In 2014-2015, the data only shows a combined average for adults over the age of 20 and it is represented as 37.7%. Despite continued efforts of doctors, advertisements, and government outreach programs, Americans have become progressively more obese. This statistical data, collected by the CDC, shows that we as a country have not taking adequate steps in improving cardiovascular health and reducing obesity. I firmly believe that the increase in body acceptance movements is a large contributing factor to this data. When we tell other people that it is okay to be obese and that they are beautiful no matter what, we present them with a paradoxical scenario. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it is not something that can be measured, while health can. While it is acceptable for one to do whatever they wish with their bodies, being obese is never okay. It poses serious health risks to that person. Not only that, it complicates a very large and varying number of aspects of life. Any injury or illness sustained by an obese person is exacerbated exponentially. While a physically fit person may step off a curb and suffer a sprain, one that is obese may suffer a compound fracture. This is due to simple physics. (More mass equals more momentum) Other complications include the accommodation of obese individuals. Not only do problems arise in transportation, such as fitting in aircraft seating, but even medical equipment is sometimes unable to accommodate someone that is obese. Poor diet and lack of exercise, among other things, will lead to increased systemic vascular resistance which leads to higher blood pressure. Over a period of time, this will cause the heart to work harder and harder. Eventually, the heart will be weakened by being forced to chronically over exert itself and will eventually result in congestive heart failure. Going back to the inability of medical equipment to accommodate the obese, imagine a scenario where a man or woman suffers congestive heart failure in a rural area. Assume that CPR was started right away and maintained until the EMTs arrived on scene. If the travel time from the point of incident to the hospital is an hour, the EMT may opt for a Lucas Device, a machine that performs CPR chest compressions for the EMT. However, in this case, the person is obese and will not fit into the device. That would mean the EMT would have to perform manual CPR for an hour and being able to perform chest compressions by hand for that duration of time is a monumental physical feat that is unlikely to happen. Possibly ending in patient death. While it may be easy to say that these medical devices should be able to accommodate more body types, that is a ludicrous proposition when referencing the obese. That would entail a massive economical undertaking by an industry that is already notorious for its expensive services, leading to even more expensive health care. The problem is with society's conception of acceptance versus logic, instead of making everything bigger to fit our fat bodies, we should collectively take our health more seriously. If the rates of obesity decreased, the need for Lucas Devices would theoretically decrease as well. This is just one of many complications when speaking of the inability to effectively use medical devices on the obese. With a mass of fat layering the body, it becomes increasingly more difficult to perform certain procedures. An example would be an obese person with a fractured bone that cannot be identified via x-rays being unable to pass effectively through thick layers of fat. Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/ http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db01.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db219.pdf "