Discrimination due to Weight Gain

August 25, 2014

Discrimination due to Weight Gain – How it Affect both Men and Women

Discrimination due to Weight Gain is prevalent in many societies. You need to get professional help to get your life back.

It is regrettable that at this point of time people are still living under certain siege of discrimination because of some health conditions that could be avoided like weight gain and obesity. Discrimination of obese people is a common phenomenon the world over with US being extreme. I will be discussing some of the effects of this uncalled for habit and offer you solutions so that you can live your life freely and void of discrimination in anyway. People who are affected by excess weight or obesity experience discrimination across a wide variety of settings, including healthcare, employment, schools, public transport sector, social amenities joints and interpersonal relationships.

Social discrimination

Let us consider the employment settings, job seekers who are affected by excess weight or obesity are often less likely to secure job opportunities or even be recommended for promotion compared to their slimmer colleagues and in the very extreme they are also faced with lower remunerations and increased risk of job insecurity based on their weight alone.

In healthcare settings, patients affected by obesity often experience prejudice, apathy and lower quality of care from medical professionals, which may result in patients choosing to delay or forgo crucial preventative care to avoid additional humiliation.

Students also face weight-based victimization in educational settings from their peers, teachers and even parents, which may interfere with social support and educational achievement.

Weight stigma is even present in interpersonal relationships with friends, family and romantic partners, such that negative judgment invades almost all areas of the lives of people affected by obesity.

Gender Differences in Experiences of Weight Stigma

Although both men and women are vulnerable to weight discrimination, their experiences may differ with respect to how much discrimination they are exposed to and the forms that it takes. Most notably, women seem to experience higher levels of weight stigmatization than men, even at lower levels of excess weight. Research suggests that women, especially those who are middle aged or with lower levels of education, experience weight discrimination at significantly higher rates than male peers. Moreover, women report weight discrimination at lower levels of excess weight than men. For example, men tend to report considerable stigmatization at a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or higher, whereas women report experiencing notable increases in weight discrimination at a lower BMI of only 27.

North American ideals of physical attractiveness, which emphasize thinness as central to feminine beauty, may account for some of these differences. Women whose bodies deviate, even slightly, from physical beauty standards may be vulnerable to weight stigmatization. Given that thinness ideals have become deeply ingrained into our society and are heavily promoted by the mass media, diet industry and fashion industry, it’s not surprising to see widespread weight stigmatization toward women, even if they are not “obese.”

For women, weight discrimination has been associated with poorer body image, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and a range of unhealthy eating behaviors, including binge eating.

Gender Differences in Children and Adolescents

Young people are vulnerable to the negative social and emotional consequences of obesity. The magnitude of stigmatization always takes the shape of bullying and victimization which impacts adversely on their relationships, education and occasionally on their physical health. There has been an inconsistency in research findings to gender with some studies establishing that girls experience more weight-based victimization, reporting higher levels of teasing and being assigned more negative characteristics as a result of their weight than boys. Other research, however, has failed to find sex differences in vulnerabilities. It may be that differences are more apparent in the types of stigmatization experienced by boys and girls, rather than the quantity or amount of these experiences.

For instance weight-based bullying may be more predominant among boys who are affected by excess weight while girls may experience more weight-based victimization in the form of social exclusion from their peers.

As I had indicated above boys and girls who experience weight-based victimization are at increased risk for negative social and educational outcomes, however, these risks seem to be even more identical with girls who are overweight, display lower academic self-esteem and are significantly more likely to be held back a grade than boys. Girls are also more likely to experience negative psychological outcomes, like depression in response to experiences of weight victimization, and may endure more pronounced difficulties in interpersonal relationships with peers and dating partners in adolescence.

Research shows that adolescent and young adult women who are affected by excess weight have lower potential for romantic relationships compared to their non-overweight peers. However, for young men, being affected by excess weight may not be detrimental to dating and forming romantic relationships. In fact, it may even be
associated with positive and desirable characteristics like strength and masculinity.

Finally the content of this article is not conclusive and certainly further studies are necessary to unlock and comprehend the nature and extent of gender differences in experiences of weight stigmatization. Even though it may appear for now that some differences may exist and more so ladies may have increased vulnerability in some areas compared to men. These are very useful tips which should be known by the various sector e.g. employers, learning institutions to help them intervene and bring the whole thing of weight stigmatization to a manageable levels. Doing all these may necessitate that you seek well guided professional advice from an experienced expert. This services are available at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center a facility founded by Doctor Akoury who is an expert in this line of obesity and has been helping people regain their lives back for the last two decades through a painless process by focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. Calling doctor Akoury will be very helpful for you to sort out all your questions relating to weight gain and obesity in all aspect.

Discrimination due to Weight Gain – How it Affect both Men and Women

Obesity and Sex

August 19, 2014

Obesity and Sex – How Over Weight Affect your Sex Life

Obesity affect your sex life negatively. Treatment must be done in good time to correct this problem

Sex is a very key component in any relationship between a man and a woman because of various reasons. Sex today is not just for procreation but also for pleasures, satisfaction among many other roles of sex. In the event these are not being for whatever reason the partners in that relationship will have some problems to address. One of the reasons why satisfaction of sex may not be forth coming is obesity and overweight and you will agree with me that this is a point of concern worth discussing. Throughout this article we are doing to be interrogating the effects of obesity in relation to sex therefore stay on the link and get to know the hidden truth.

As we have said obesity can extremely abstract your sex life in many ways including those health complications associated with obesity which can lead to luck of sexual energies, dysfunction and hormonal imbalance. For instance when administering treatment for those illness like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension the medications used are likely to trigger lack of libido and erectile dysfunction among other sex-related problems. Considering available statistic of 1.5 billion people being obese globally, this is a situation which should send all healthcare providers thinking for immediate solutions. Here are some of the ways obesity can harm your sex life.

Erectile dysfunction

Obese men are at high risk of suffering from erectile dysfunction or impotency due to health complications associated with obesity like high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. These complications can inhibit efficient blood flow to all parts of the body including the penis which then results in weak erection. Various studies have also established that even losing a little amount of weight can help beat the condition and bring back your ability to keep your sexual fulfillment obligations.

Hormonal imbalance leading to low libido

Obesity is directly linked to hormonal imbalance and lower testosterone levels, which in turn can inhibit sexual desires in both men and women.
Another issue is that increased body fat leads to more sex hormone binding globulins (SHBG) in the system which is a natural chemical that binds to testosterone meaning that there is less of the sex hormone left to handle the demands of a normal sex life.
There is also evidence to suggest that obesity in young boys can lead to fatigue and development of male breasts.
In young girls it can lead to PCOD, irregular menstrual cycle and thyroid problems.

Infertility

Obesity can cause certain abnormalities in women’s eggs which may leads to infertility. According to studies done by Brigham Women’s Hospital infertility while studying some 300 eggs which failed to fertilize during IVF established that obese women eggs are more likely to have chromosomal abnormalities.
Obesity also causes excess insulin production and PCOD (a condition where the periods are irregular and ovaries produce small, immature eggs instead of healthy mature ones).
Obese women are also likely to suffer from failed pregnancies and miscarriages than regular weighing ones.
Obesity is directly linked to infertility in men due to its effects on the sperms recent studies have established that men feeding on fatty diets have lower quality of sperm.
Men consuming more saturated fats had 35 percent lower total sperm count and 38 percent lower sperm concentration than men who ate healthier.

Obesity-related diseases that hinder sex

People who are heavy, particularly in the central abdomen area tend to suffer from a host of diseases which can affect their sex lives in various ways. This can be due to physiological or psychological reasons or due to medicines taken for the disease.

Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, hypertension, depression, dementia and other ailments all affect your sexual functioning. In fact, one of the most tell-tale symptoms of diabetes is erectile dysfunction.

Medicines too, ranging from anti-depressants to those used to treat heart conditions, high blood pressure and cholesterol can lead to sexual issues like impotence, decreased sex drive, ejaculation problems and even delayed or no orgasms. Here’s a complete list of medicines that can affect your sexual life.

Buried penis syndrome

Folds of abdominal fat and skin in obese men make the penis look rather small or even ‘buried’ at times. Called the ‘buried penis syndrome’, it can seriously hamper sex lives. This however, should not be confused with the ‘micro-penis’ which is a condition where the erect penis measures less than 3 inches. This is mostly a congenital disorder in children and can affect around 0.6% of the male population.

Fewer sex positions possible

Sadly, the sheer logistics of sex can change when one or both partners are fat and can make coitus in some positions particularly hard. The popular missionary position is out-of-bounds if the male partner is too heavy. And if both partners are obese, then the central abdominal area can prevent proper penetration. The rear entry style which is more popular among the obese can also cause problems because the woman usually has to spend a long amount of time on her knees. Spooning, a sex position where partners lie side by side is also hard for fat people. However, fat people shouldn’t fret and there are multitudes of positions that they can try with their partners. Here’s a great article I came across about modified sex positions.

Less likely to have sex

Let’s face it – we live in a society that judges us by our looks and obese people are always going to find it harder looking for a partner. The problem is even graver in a country like ours where it is okay for a man to be obese if he has a high-paying job or is from a rich family whereas it is almost impossible to find a groom for a ‘fat girl’.

Lack of stamina

Obesity is often associated with laziness and a sedentary lifestyle. And this may often percolate into their sex lives as well. In men, it will also significantly decrease the time they can maintain an erection.

But the fact remains that you can improve your sex life by simply losing a few pounds. And this will not only benefit your sex life but your overall health and well-being as well. What you’ve to realize is that the entire situation is in your own hand; you’re in control of your weight and you can choose to lose it whenever your heart desires by calling on Dr. Dalal Akoury who is an expert of many years in this discipline. Doctor Akoury Founded AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center where she is offering exclusive NER recovery treatment to everyone including physicians and other health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars your condition should not bring your sex life down call on doctor Akoury today for timely recovery and fulfillment of your sexual pleasures.

Obesity and Sex – How Over Weight Affect your Sex Life

Men, Addiction and Intimacy

August 19, 2014

Men, Addiction and Intimacy

Basically a substance use disorder is a form of disorder whereby the continuous use of a substance causes a profound deficiency or stress which requires medical attention.

There are various factors which are associated with substance use in people and specifically to men. We can subdivide these factors into neurobiological and psychosocial factors.

What Are These Neurobiological Factors That Are Associated With Substance Use Disorders?

Men, Addiction and Intimacy Neurobiology is basically referred as the branch of biology that deals with the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the nervous system. From these basic definition we can define neurobiological factors as those factors that relate to the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the nervous system.

Genetic factors

Most scholars believe that the inclination to a particular addictive disorder is greatly influenced by the collaboration of various genes. For instance the risk for alcohol addiction is dependent on the same genes that increase the risk for problem gambling.

Parental gestational trauma

The amount and kind of trauma a mother undergoes during her pregnancy greatly affects the developing foetal brain, since all the neurons we have were developed during the gestation period. Recent studies have shown that the maternal traumatic experiences have a negative impact on the growth and development of a child whether male or female.one study in particular has shown that the level of a mother’s apprehension during pregnancy is proportional to the youngster’s awakening cortisol level at a later age, consequentially affects their susceptibility to these disorders.

Insufficient affection to the newborn

Most of the mental growth in a newborn occurs in the first few years of life and as expected is greatly influenced by the physical conditions surrounding the child. A boy who has grown in a place where affection is little tends to find a hobby that fills the emotional hole created. In most cases, the hobby is related to use of harmful substances such as marijuana and alcohol.

Traumatic experiences in childhood

It has been clearly proved that teen victimization in males has affected thousands of lives in their adulthood. The development of alcoholism is acute in men who have had prior exposure to either sexual or mental abuse.

What are these psychosocial factors related to substance use disorder?

Social factors are those factors relating to the social structure and processes that in some way influence a person while Psychological factors tend to deal with mental states of individuals. Psychosocial factors is then defined to be those factors relating to the interaction between an individual and the society at large.

Gender

It is evident from different cultural backgrounds of the world that women in general are allowed to express their emotional anguish without a problem while in men it is seen has a sign of weakness. Hence men over the years have found the use of substances such as alcohol to be an acceptable way to relieve stress.

The prevailing economic situations

During economic recession when employment is scarce, the likelihood of a youngster to engage in criminal activities such as the illicit sale of drugs, alcohol and other substances is intensified.

Physical environment

Male teenagers tend to associate with groups in order to fit in and feel accepted.in group dynamics or in any natural order there exists a stage in which there is some form of initiation passage done for a new member. The passage may include continuous consumption of drugs.

Religion

In certain religious groups, the use of substances such as alcohol and drugs is considered to be part of the spiritual growth. Although such practices cannot be ruled out as unethical to some level but there is always that possibility of addictive disorders associated with constant intake.

How These Factors Tend To Affect the Development of Healthy Relationships in Men

A male child who grows up in a home where there is little or no affection tends to have a difficult time forming relationships. One reason for such a behavior may be the fear of intimacy as it appears new to him.

When it comes to marriage this lack of affection may work out in two scenarios whereby he might either have a difficult time emotionally bonding with his spouse and children or he might try to compensate for what he lacked through extra attention to his family.

A young man who had been victimized earlier in life tends to have self-esteem issues which can manifest through compulsive behaviors such as bullying others in relationships in an effort to take back power.

Men, Addiction and Intimacy

The effects of early childhood trauma such as violence between parents negatively influences a man’s response to commitment in a relationship as he becomes afraid of repeating his parents’ mistakes and having to live a horrible life afterwards.

The physical environment in a young man’s life influences his response to both the political and social environments. We can take an example of a case whereby a man in his early years of growth found himself on the wrong side of the law is bound to be rebellious and tends to have little or no respect to the rule of law.

In recent times we have been experiencing a form of cultural erosion to the fundamental networks our ancestors used to practice. The challenges that men have to face in life have tremendously increased with rising causes of suicides due to pressure to provide for his family.

In essence male children vary in the extent to which early attachments influence their future, it may happen that irrespective of the challenges faced by a youngster in his growth he actually manages to live a fulfilling life.

The worldwide site which has proven professionals who can help you recover from any addiction is the www.awaremednetwork.com. If you need help on recovery you just need to call or visit Awaremed Wellness And Resource Center

Neurobiological Factors That Are Associated With Substance Use Disorders?

Changing Self-Destructive Habits

August 18, 2014

Understanding Self-Destructive Habits

Changing Self-Destructive Habits Self-destructive habits are those actions and tendencies that individuals, organizations or groups engage in that are against their self-interest for one reason or another. Let’s look at some of these actions in details:

Eating Disorder

An eating disorder is a psychiatric disorder evidenced by a great desire to be thin and a deep fear for weight increment .Examples of such disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a denial to sustain a fixed body weight such as the restricting type, the binge-eating and purging type.

Bulimia nervosa is whereby reoccurring episodes of binge eating is followed by such unfortunate behaviors as self-induced vomiting, fasting or too much exercising.

Ways of preventing eating disorders

In schools, students should be given a safe and conducive atmosphere
In places with many cases of such disorders, support groups should be established
Schools should incorporate life skills in their curriculum at an early age
Carry out a regular checkup on students
Physical education in education centers should focus in healthy lifestyles rather than weight management.

Five Crippling Habits That Lead To Self-Destruction

People have developed certain behaviors that tend to lead them backwards in any field of life whether in a social, economic or political setup.it becomes so severe that it can be related to the culture of an entire organization. These habits can be summed up into five headlines namely:

Lack of clear instructions. A person is required to have transparent and straightforward goals in an organization and in order for this to happen the goals should be easy to understand for anyone.
Deficiency in accountability in which people show lack of responsibility. This usually happens when the company’s reward mechanism isn’t connected to production outcome.
Justifying poor performance. Leaders tend to find some sensible excuses as to why they have had a bad business year instead of finding ways of improving the outcome.
Continuous rescheduling of plans. Some companies fail to adequately allocate enough resources and time to accomplish a set out goal.
Reluctance to change and risks involved. A new personnel may be employed to a company and happens to have some fantastic ideas but since he is new, he is ignored.
Having a positive attitude towards change and exploring any new viable idea
Taking time to make a clear and straight-forward objectives
Have a low tolerance to poor performance in a company
Instead of revising plans, one should allocate enough time and energy
Specifying the roles and duties of every member of the team.

How to curb Self-Destructive Habits

Gambling:

Gambling is basically the act of wagering on money or any kind of valuable item. Problem gambling is an act in which a person’s gambling behavior negatively affects other parts of his or her life.

Signs of a gambling problem

Committing crimes to finance gambling
Money borrowing to finance gambling
Entertaining regular thoughts about gambling
Increasing the income allocated for gambling
Experiencing failed attempts to stop gambling
Denying that you have a problem
Taking certain things for guaranteed such as relationships, jobs or career opportunities
Using gambling as an escape from reality

How to Overcome Problem Gambling

One requires to find out what is the root cause of gambling in their life
Change their belief on the possibility of winning in a bet
Have a fixed amount of cash for gambling
Find another hobby
Find a self-support and counselling group

Internet And Cyber-Sex Abuse

This is basically the deliberate action by an adult to create some form of uncomfortable atmosphere using internet and in most cases it affects minors, women or social groups such as the gay communities.

Changing Self-Destructive Habits

Ways of curbing internet sex abuse

Parents are required to monitor what their underage kids do in the internet to ensure that they are not exposed to say no form of abuse. Cyber cafes and educational instructions should block certain websites that promote pornographic behaviors in young people. The governments should establish and implement laws that severely punish offenders of such acts in order to curb any existing habits among people

Life skills on the use of the internet services for small kids should be part of the learning curriculum to spread awareness on how to handle cases of abuse.

Self-Harm

Self-harm is a broad description of the things different people do that causes a negative impact on themselves such as pulling your hair, pouring hot water on yourself, cutting yourself, swallowing toxic liquids.

Ways of Curbing Self-Harm

A good way of solving this disorder is to provide optimum and adequate counseling sessions to affected people in schools, churches and other social centers.

Another way to avoid self-harm is to Substitute it with something that is in a way harmless. For example using a punching bag to release stress and other built up emotions. Sometimes you can hit pillows when you are alone, going for a nice morning walk to start off the day well or any other form of exercise, some people learn musical instruments and use them when stressed out, and one can also use a journal to write out your frustrations.

One can also train on how to create a strong mental health to cope with stress. This is done through eating well and healthily. A well balanced diet increases the amounts of serotonin in the brain which will give a person a great mood.

Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is the inappropriate use of drugs and alcohol. This behavior has adverse impacts on the political, social and economic sectors.

Ways of curbing substance abuse include:

Restrictive rules on the areas that create a stimulus environment for drinking and smoking. Hence a person is limited to using in homes, garages or bathrooms which tend to discourage use

Avoiding to social with people who are also dependent on drugs and substance abuse. This includes not coming to bars, bowling alleys and associating with non-abusers in places like restaurants without liquor

Performing self-relaxation and meditation. This may include expressing anger by dictating them on paper and possibly seeking counseling and any other available advice from friends and community leaders.

Another way to curb this behavior is through rewarding yourself for not using the particular drug and punishing yourself for abusing the substance. This creates an attitude that motivates one to move forward.

In case of alcohol one may decide to switch to brand they don’t enjoy taking in order to lose the taste for alcohol

Rehearsing inspiring thoughts such as every time I don’t smoke my lungs become healthier. Alcohol will damage my liver so I should not take them regularly.

Understanding Self-Destructive Habits

Addiction to Energy Drinks

August 17, 2014

Can there be an Energy Drinks Addiction?

What is an energy drink?

This is a kind of beverage containing ingredients are purported to boost the energy levels in the body. These drinks are marketed as providing both mental and physical stimulation due to its paramount ingredient, caffeine. It may sometimes be carbonated and also added sugar or other sweeteners. Herbs extracts and amino acids are also common ingredients to the energy drinks though in very small quantities.

Is energy drink addictive?

Addiction to Energy Drinks Looking at the ingredients that form the energy drink, it is beyond reasonable doubt that energy drinks can be addictive. The main addictive ingredient of the energy drink is the caffeine, though the sugar additives can also be addictive.

Caffeine is a stimulant and it acts by stimulating the central nervous system, which has effect on the brain and hence making you feel wonderfully alert though in the actual sense you are tired. This is so because the caffeine stimulated the nervous system and consequently blocking the message that tells your brain that you are tired. The effect induced by caffeine, is pleasant to many people, but to some it may result to anxiety, depression and other unpleasant side effects.

Energy drinks often contains caffeine or sugar which can affect the neurotransmitter causing temporal energy boost. These are the brain chemicals which regulate the human moods and behaviors, and if they can be stimulated, they can make our bodies have a feel of energy gain. This is the property that the energy drink manufacturers capitalize on. It simply works by blocking the messages which would otherwise trigger energy needs.

What are the side effects of energy drink?

The main cause of side effects in energy drinks is the high amounts of caffeine in them. Though some of the other ingredients can also have some side effects, the main side effects which are attributed to energy drinks are related to caffeine. Thus the side effects that we will look at here may be similar to those of caffeine addiction particularly.

The following are the main side effects of energy drinks:-

Risk of cardiac attack – caffeine which is an ingredient of energy drinks is known to cause heart diseases. Taking of energy drinks leaves a person under a very high risk of getting a cardiac arrest. For those with history of heart diseases, this cardiac arrest can occur just after a few energy drinks. Researches done on the effects of energy drugs on the human body have indicated that energy drinks causes forceful heart contractions, which could be very harmful to some with certain heart conditions.
Chronic headache – since caffeine is addictive, reduction or too much caffeine can cause severe headache due to the withdrawal symptoms of caffeine. Therefore taking too much energy drinks can lead to severe headaches.
May lead to insomnia – since energy drinks stimulate the rain to keep a person awake/alert, its abuse may cause someone to miss sleep. The lack of sleep can be very harmful to your body, since it affects your drive to perform other concentration heavy tasks.
Can lead to Type 2 Diabetes – this is a type of diabetes which results from too much sugar in the body. Since these energy drinks many of them have high levels of sugar, their consumption may lead to typpe2 diabetes.

Addiction to Energy Drinks

Addiction – another risk or side effect of taking energy drinks is addiction. The ingredients of the energy drinks such as caffeine and sugars are highly addictive. Addiction itself is a danger to your health, but the biggest problem is that the addiction will make you dependent on energy drinks and thus you cannot survive without taking them. This will even put you to a much bigger ganger of the side effects of the individual ingredients of the energy drink.
Jittering and nervousness – when caffeine is taken in high levels into the body, it causes some people to shake and be nervous. The energy drinks are high in caffeine and thus when frequently taken, they can lead to this side effect.
Interaction with prescription drugs – it has come to the knowledge of scientists that, some of the ingredients of energy drinks can interact with the prescription drugs, especially those meant for depression treatment.

Should energy drinks be made illegal?

The debate on whether energy drinks should be declared illegal has been ongoing in many areas of the world. Some countries are in the process of banning the sale of the drinks, especially to underage. Among the noticeable countries which have come out to show the world that energy drinks should be banned is Lithuania.
The recent reports are that, “Lithuania has banned the sale of energy drinks to anyone under 18 on the basis of health concerns. The ban will take effect in November 2014 after it was approved by parliament in May. Lithuania’s health
ministry said it was setting a precedent within the European Union.” The message from the state read, “According to our survey, a majority of other nations say that they only have recommendations in place, not bans,” ministry official Almantas Kranauskas said. “I think it will serve as an impetus for other countries. Many of them are still hesitating and might be influenced by the lucrative energy drinks industry.”

Can there be an Energy Drinks Addiction?

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